MESSAGE 

FROM THE 


liiESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 

T S6)4 
.iJr \ A SA" 

/ TRANSMITTING THE 


REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER TO 
THE PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900, 



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WITH 


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ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS, AND ACCOMPANYING OFFICIAL LETTERS, 
INTERVIEWS, AND MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1897 , 





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MESSAGE 


FKOM THE 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 

TRANSMITTING 

THE HEPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER. 


To the Congress of the United States: 

The act of Congress approved July 19, 1897, entitled “An act mak¬ 
ing appropriations to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the 
fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, and for prior years and for otlier pur¬ 
poses,” provided tlie acceptance by tbe Government of the United 
States of tbe invitation extended by tbe Republic of France to partici¬ 
pate in an International Exposition to be beld at Paris from April 15 
to November 5, 1900, and authorized tbe President to appoint a Special 
Commissioner witb a view to securing all attainable information neces¬ 
sary to a full and complete understanding by Congress in regard to tbe 
participation of tbis Government in that Exposition. 

Maj. Moses P. Handy, of Cbicago, was appointed sucb Special Com¬ 
missioner, and I now inclose bis report giving tbe details of bis mis¬ 
sion. It is a comprebensive and clear presentation of the situation. He 
recommends that an appropriation of $919,600 be granted, so that a 
creditable exhibit on behalf of tbe United States may be made. The 
details of tbis report will show bow tbis appropriation may be profit¬ 
ably expended. 

Besides securing a much larger amount of space than bad been 
reserved, Major Handy obtained tbe gratifying assurance that the 
United States will be placed on a footing witb tbe most favored nations 
and “that in tbe installation of every important department tbe United 
States will have a location commensurate witb tbe dignity and impor¬ 
tance of tbe country and adjoining in every case countries of tbe first 
rank.’’ 

In view of tbe magnitude and importance of tbe approaching Expo¬ 
sition, and of our standing among tbe nations which will be there 
represented, and in view, also, of our increased population and acknowl¬ 
edged xirogress in arts, science, and manufactures, I earnestly com¬ 
mend tbe report of Major Handy to your consideration and trust that 
a liberal apiiroiiriatiou may be made. 


3 


4 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


Moreover, the magnificent exliibit of the French Government at 
Chicago in 1893, on which a million dollars were expended, should be a 
strong incentive to reciprocal liberality on the part of the Government 
of the United States and suggests to our citizens the necessity as well 
as the propriety of installing at the Paris Exposition an exhibit on a 
par with that of the Government and people of France at Chicago, and 
in keeping with the scope and extent of the preparations which are 
being made by nearly all the important nations of the earth for their 
proposed exhibits in that Exposition. 

I suggest that the subject be given timely and favorable consideration. 

William McKinley. 

Executive Mansion, 

Washington, December 6, 1897. 


List of papers to accompany the President’s message of December 6, 1897. 

1. Report of the Special Commissioner to the Paris Exposition of 1900, dated Decem¬ 

ber 1, 1897, with illustrations and maps. 

2. Official letters, interviews, and miscellaneous documents under the head of Appen¬ 

dixes. 






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REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER TO THE 
PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


To tbe President : 

In compliance with the act of Congress entitled “An act making 
appropriations to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the fiscal 
year ending June 30,1897, and for prior years, and for other purposes,’^ 
approved July 19,1897,1 have the honor to submit the subjoined report 
of my work as Special Commissioner for the Paris International Expo¬ 
sition of 1900. 

I was appointed by the President on July 27, 1897, in conformity 
with the provisions of that law, and qualified immediately upon receipt 
of notice of my apiiointment. 

I entered upon the discharge of my duties without delay. The fol¬ 
lowing are the essential portions of the instructions given to me by the 
Secretary of State: 

Department of State, Washington, August 12,1891. 

Sir: The act of Congress entitled ^‘An act making appropriations to supply 
deficiencies in the appropriations for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-seven, and for prior years, and for other purposes,” approved 
July 19,1897, contains the following provision: 

“International Exposition at Paris : That the invitation of the Republic of 
France to take part in an exposition of works of arts and the products of manufac¬ 
tures and agriculture of all nations to be held in Paris, commencing the fifteenth day 
of April and closing the fifth day of November, nineteen hundred, is accepted; and 
the governors of the several States and Territories be, and are hereby, requested to 
invite the i^eople of their respective States and Territories to make a proper repre¬ 
sentation of the products of our industry and of the natural resources of the coun¬ 
try, and to take such further measures as may be necessary in order to secure to their 
respective States and Territories the advantages to be derived from this beneficent 
undertaking. 

“That the President shall aiipoint a Special Commissioner to represent the United 
States in the proposed exposition, who shall take all proper measures to provide for the 
representation of the industries and natural resources of the United States by their 
citizens in said exposition, and shall procure proper space and privileges therefor, 
and shall make a report to the President, to bo submitted to Congress on the first 
day of its next regular session, containing his proceedings hereunder, with such 
recommendations as he may deem proper. For the compensation of said Special 
Commissioner, not to exceed five thousand dollars, and for all necessary expenses 
and employment attendant thereon, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars is 
hereby appropriated, to continue available until expended.” 

Pursuant to this law, I inclose your commission as Special Commissioner to repre¬ 
sent the United States at the Paris Exposition of 1900. The statute is declaratory 
of the purpose of Congress in creating the i)()sitiou to which you have been 

6 



6 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


appointed, and directs that yon “shall take all proper measures to provide for the 
representation of the industries and natural resources of the United States hy their 
citizens in said Exposition, and shall procure proper space and privileges therefor,” 
making due report to the President thereon for his submission to Congress on the 
first day of its next regnlar session, with such recommendations as you may deem 
proper. 

It is not possible to give you detailed or specific instructions regarding your mis¬ 
sion, the importance of which is at once apparent. Nor, indeed, would it seem nec¬ 
essary to enlarge upon the details of yonr work in this respect were it practicable 
to do so, since, in the President’s judgment, your extensive experience with the late 
World’s Fair at Chicago so admirably fits you for the duties and labors you are now 
called upon to discharge. 1 am confident their magnitude and importance can not 
fail to impress themselves upon yon, for the reason that the ultimate success and 
character of the representation of the Government of the United States and its citi¬ 
zens at the Exposition at Paris in 1900 must in a large degree depend upon and be 
measured by the results of yonr mission. It is evidently the wish and intent of Con¬ 
gress that our share in that great international competition should be most creditable 
and commensurate with our imiiortance as a nation and our industrial and natural 
resources. No step should be omitted toward the accomplishment of that laudable 
result, and nothing left to conjecture that can be specifically stated. Your report 
should therefore be comprehensive both as to its character and its recommendations, 
to the end that the President, the Congress, and the people of the United States may 
possess the benefit of the fullest and best attainable information for their future 
guidance. 

Your compensation as fixed by law for such special duty is not to exceed the sum 
of $5,000, and for all necessary expenses arid employment attendant thereon the sum 
of $25,000 is appropriated, to continue available until expended. 

The employment of such assistance as in your judgment may lie thought necessary 
to successfully carry out the wish of Congress is hereby authorized and may be paid 
from the $25,000 aforesaid. 

With these general observations, the important trust is confided to you in the 
reliance that your best endeavors will be exerted to carry out the intention of Con¬ 
gress to promote the ends of the Government of the United States and of your coun¬ 
trymen in the matter of the proposed participation in the ajiproaching International 
Exposition at Paris in 1900. 

A special passport is herewith inclosed. 

Respectfully, yours, John Sherman. 

Maj. Moses P. Handy, 

Special Commissioner of the United States to the proposed 

International Exposition to be held at Paris in 1900, now at Chicago, 111. 

Two important duties confronted me at the outset, and these duties 
appeared somewhat conflicting; there was urgent necessity for the 
appearance of the Special Commissiouer at Paris at tlie earliest possible 
moment, while, on the other hand, it was of the utmost importance that 
before arrival there he should be fully informed as to the degree of 
interest felt by the people of the United States in the Exposition 
of 1900 and the probable extent of the demands for space by intending 
exhibitors. To feel the public pulse as to this interest and probable 
demand, I immediately established ofiices in Chicago and iSTew York 
and entered into correspondence with representative men in all the 
leading branches of trade and industry as well as with expert authori¬ 
ties in art, education, and sciences. This list of correspondents com¬ 
prised, first, premium takers in the American section at the Paris 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


7 


Exposition of 1889; and, second, the leading American exhibitors and 
the most important premium takers at the Chicago Exposition of 1893. 
To these names were added those of a large number of representatives 
of organized trades and industries, with a view of securing the coopera¬ 
tion of such trades and industries in their organized capacities. In the 
circular addressed to them they were advised that specific and con¬ 
clusive information was not to be expected at such an early period; 
hence, an expression of intention to exhibit would not be binding upon 
them, nor would its filing in my office involve any obligation upon the 
part of the United States Government. The sole purpose was to obtain 
approximately an idea of the quantity of space which should be allotted 
to the United States and of the character and number of probable 
exhibits. A copy of this circular will be found among the documents 
accompanying this report. (Appendix A.) 

Having thus laid the foundation for a canvass of public opinion, I 
hastened to Paris without waiting for the responses, leaving their com¬ 
pilation and the collection of other information, which might be useful 
to me in formulating my demands upon the Exposition authorities, to 
expert assistants in New York and Chicago, who were instructed to 
advise me as promptly as possible by mail, and, in emergencies, by 
cable, as to the result of the canvass. 

I sailed for Paris on the 28th of August, accomi^anied by Lieut. A. 
0. Baker, U. S. N., who was assigned to me as an aid by the Secretary 
of State, and by Col, Charles Chaille-Long, who was engaged as secre¬ 
tary to the Commissioner. Mr. Baker had the benefit of valuable expe¬ 
rience as an organizer in one of the executive departments of the 
World’s Columbian Exposition, and this experience was supplemented 
by a thorough knowledge of French and other languages. Colonel 
Chaille-Loug was appointed with a special view to looking after the 
interests of the American section of the Exposition in Paris after 
the expected early return of the Special Commissioner to the United 
States. 

Arriving in Paris on the 5th of September, I called upon the ambassa¬ 
dor of the United States, Gen, Horace Porter, and, much to my regret, 
found that he was not in the city and would not return for several 
weeks. I was received with much courtesy, however, by Mr. Henry 
Vignaud, secretary of the embassy, who gave me a letter from General 
Porter, extending to me a cordial welcome, and unreservedly jilacing 
the good offices of the embassy at rny disposal. 

The circumstances attending my arrival in Paris could hardly be said 
to be auspicious. In addition to the unavoidable absence of our ambas¬ 
sador, there was embarrassment in the fact that most of the French offi¬ 
cials with whom it was desirable that I should be put in immediate 
communication were out of the city, it being the period of official vaca¬ 
tions. My presentation at the foreign office was delayed—at first, by 
the absence of Mr. Hanotaux, minister of foreign affairs, and after- 
wardwS, by his attendance upon the King of Siam, who was at that time 


8 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


a visitor to Paris as the guest of the French Republic. Finally, on 
September 15, ten days after my arrival, the pressing nature of my 
business having been certified to the foreign office, my Commissionership 
was duly recognized without the formality of personal presentation to 
the minister of foreign affairs, and through the foreign ministry I met, 
by appointment, Mr. Boucher, minister of commerce and industry, whose 
department has jurisdiction of all matters relating to the Exposition. 

Mr. Boucher gave a cordial reception to myself and my assistants. 
He expressed profound regret at the tardiness of the United States in 
the acceptance of France’s invitation and informed me that all negotia¬ 
tions on the matter of the allotment of space to foreign countries must 
be carried on with Mr. Picard, the commissioner-general, and Mr. 
Helaunay-Belleville, director-general of exploitation. Mr. Boucher was 
careful to impress upon me that the Exposition authorities counted upon 
the cooperation of the representatives of foreign countries to make the 
Exposition of 1900 an exposition of selection, in which each country 
must consider quality rather than quantity and display only the most 
representative exhibits of its industry. He said that the experience of 
France with international expositions since 1855, and the study of those 
held in other countries, had taught the importance of the avoidance of 
a mere multiplication of commonplace exhibits. There was no dispo¬ 
sition to restrict competition, but it was the sincere hope of the manage¬ 
ment that the exposition would be interesting as well as instructive. 
“Visitors,” he said, “are not interested in sardine boxes and tomato 
cans, however numerous or tastefully arranged.” 

Immediately following this interview with the minister of commerce, 
I made an official call on Mr. Picard, commissioner-general and presi¬ 
dent of the council of administration. While deploring our late com¬ 
ing, Mr. Picard expressed his gratification at the passage by Congress 
of a preliminary appropriation and the appointment by the President 
of a Special Commissioner. He said that notwithstanding the fact 
that the comi)etition for space was very strong, much stronger, 
indeed, than at any previous exposition, no pains would be spared to 
meet any reasonable expectation of a country whose claims were con¬ 
sidered so great as those of the United States. The commissioner- 
general, Mr. Picard, personally conducted me to the office of Mr. 
Delaunay-Belleville, the director-general of exploitation, to whom in 
turn we were duly presented. 

Like Mr. Boucher and Mr. Picard, Mr. Delaunay-Belleville was most 
gracious and cordial, but like the others he expressed his most pro¬ 
found regret that the United States was so late in its acceptance of the 
invitation to participate in the Exposition. Eighteen countries, he 
said, had already presented their claims, some commissioners-general 
had been on the ground many months already, and the contest for 
space had been so eager that it had been almost impossible to protect 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


9 


tlie interests of the late comers. He and his colleagues were mindful 
of the friendly relations between France and the United States, of its 
preeminence in certain fields of invention and industry, of the possi¬ 
bilities of its display, and had reserved space which he hoped would 
be adequate in the various groujis and sections for the installation of 
our exhibits. The statement led to a request on my part that I might 
be furnished with a statement of the reservations made for the United 
States in each of the several buildings and for each department. To 
this request Mr. Delaunay-Belleville readily acceded. 

The director-general echoed and enforced what had been said by the 
minister of commerce as to the importance of each country “weeding 
onU’ the applications of individual exhibitors, so that only the best 
and most representative articles would be shown. He dwelt at length 
upon the limitations imposed upon the Exposition authorities by the 
fact that the Exposition was located in the heart of a great capital, 
and urged that the sjiace at command was not only very circumscribed, 
but positively incapable of extension. Citing Germany, a country 
that is making extraordinary efforts and that has made a large appro¬ 
priation, he said that the commissioner-general from that country had 
gracefully accepted the situation and was in thorough accord with the 
administration of the Exposition, and that the exhibits before being 
accepted would be carefully inspected and sifted by committees in 
Germany. 

In regard to concessions, the director-general explained that it was 
the policy of the administration to encourage typical national restau¬ 
rants and amusements, but that the United States Commission would 
be expected to certify to the financial standing of the applicants for 
these and other concessions. It is probable that a percentage of the 
gross receipts will be required from concessionnaires. Having been 
once passed upon by the United States Commission and recognized by 
the Exposition authorities, the concessionnaires would treat directly 
with the local administration. 

In this interview I took occasion to call attention to the fact that in 
1889 the space allotted to the hue-arts exhibit of the United States 
was very inadequate and so badly located as to be almost inaccessible 
to the average visitor to the Exposition. The director-general of 
exploitation said that an effort would be made to effect a more equi¬ 
table distribution of space for this department in the coming Exposition, 
ami that it was his expectation that every nation would have a part of 
its space on the ground floor. Interrogated on the question of special 
government buildings for exhibits, the director-general said that they 
would be x)ermitted only to the smaller countries whose manufactures 
and other industries are so small as to make it impossible to display 
them to advantage in the main buildings. Such countries as Servia, 
Montenegro, Persia, Siam, and some of the smaller South American 


10 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


States might have seiiarate buildings iu accordance with this principle in 
which their entire exhibits would be shown. All large countries would 
be expected to exhibit in the principal palaces according to subjects 
under the classification. Permission would probably be given to some 
of the great nations to erect pavilions for official headquarters. These 
exceptions, however, would only be made iu case of nations whose 
sovereigns or rulers were expected to visit the Exposition. 

Following this very satisfactory interview there was a delay of ten 
days before the director-general of exploitation sent me the promised 
statement of the s])aces reserved for the United States. The interven¬ 
ing time was passed by myself and my assistants in a thorough survey 
of the proposed Exposition grounds, in the study of tlie classification 
and regulations which had been promulgated, and in familiarizing our¬ 
selves with the plan and scope of the Exposition and the progress of 
the work. The results of these studies and inquiries are given in 
memoranda accompanying this report. 

Mr. Delaunay-Belleville’s first letter was courteous in the extreme, 
but none the less disappointing. The space which he reported as 
reserved for the United States was very little more than that awarded 
us iu 1889, when the entire space at the command of the Exposition 
authorities was considerably more restricted and when the United 
States was not nearly so well prepared to make a creditable exhibit. 
I felt it my duty, therefore, in replying with due courtesy and thorough 
appreciation of the amiable intentions of the Exposition authorities, to 
make a mild protest against the inadequacy of the proposed allotment, 
and, having received advices from America giving me sufficient data, 
was able to support my contention by facts and figures whose strength¬ 
ening significance could not be assailed. The points of my contention 
were, first, that the United States was entitled to as large an allot¬ 
ment of space as any other nation; second, that the space assigned 
to us should be proportionately as much larger than our allotment in 
1889 as the space at the command of the Exposition authorities now 
was larger than it was then. The issue thus joined was the subject of 
further corresijondence, which was characterized on both sides by equal 
frankness and courtesy and an earnest desire to arrive at an equitable 
solution of the problem. The salient points of this correspondence are 
given ill the apiiendix to this report. Suffice it to say here, that the 
Exposition authorities met the representative of the United States 
more than halfway and conceded every essential point. The net result 
was a greatly increased allotment in nearly every department in which 
any allotment could be made under existing conditions, and most satis¬ 
factory assurances in regard to other departments. The following is a 
statement of the original tender and of the concessions successively 
made, and which in their final form I felt it my duty to accept so far 
as the power of acceptance lay with the Special Coininissioner. 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


11 


Allotment. 


Department. 

Groujj. 

First allot- 
ment. 

Second 

allotment. 

Total allot¬ 
ment. 

Liberal arts . 

1 and 3 

9 

Sq. feet. 

ft aoft 

Sq. feet. 

Sq. feet. 

Fine arts . 

O, Uvo 

1 n\ 

lU, <00 

10,750 
(a) 

48,420 

0 4 liiQ 

Machinery, electricity, and appliances. 

4 and 5 

\a) 

37,660 
16,140 
(a) 

(n\ 

{Cl) 

48 420 

Agriculture and food products . 

7 and 10 

g 


Horticulture. 

20,441 

//y\ 

/4o 

(a) 

(a) 

n CQO 

Forest, chase and fisheries. 

9 

11 

12 and 15 

13 

14 

6 

{d) 

In \ 

Mines and mining. 

\a) 

5 380 

(a; 

Manufactures . 

S] 608 
10 760 

«.>, OoU 
91 

/, 03 J 
91 

Do . 

^ 1 , 

19 Qia 

iil, OJU 
19 0 1 ft 

Do . 

8 608 

4. Q<ll 

13, y 10 

Transportation and civil engineering. 

12 ’ 912 
(a) 

oViJ. 

17,216 

(a) 

4, oOi 

17, 216 

Social economy and hygiene . 

16 

17 

Colonization. . . 

(a) 

( n \ 

Army and Navy. 

18 


\d} 

( n\ 

{a) 

( n \ 



\d} 

{a) 

Total .-. -. 


108, 676 

140, 947 

147 403 





a AllotmeBt not yet made. 


As a result of further negotiations the allotment in groups 7 and 10 
was increased by 4,304 square feet, and in group 11 by 2,152 square 
feet, making the total of space absolutely allotted 147,403 square feet. 
The groups in which no allotment could be made are so marked in 
the tabulated form. 

The satisfaction in view of these most gratifying results was tem¬ 
pered in some degree by regret that it was not in the power of the 
administration to make definite allotments of space in several important 
departments. That, however, I was assured, was out of the question, 
the Exposition authorities really being in doubt as to how to provide 
for these departments until their plans were more fully matured. The 
United States, however, is only an equal sufferer with other nations by 
reason of this delay and uncertainty. The probability is that the defi¬ 
nite allotments will be made for all departments now held in abeyance 
within the next six months, and 1 had positive assurances from those 
in authority that when the time comes for a division of the space the 
United States will be placed in these departments, as in others, on a 
footing with the most favored nation; also that in the installation of 
every important department the United States will have a location 
commensurate with the dignity and importance of the country, and 
adjoining in every case countries of the first rank. 

To form a fair judgment as to the equity of this allotment it is essen¬ 
tial to recall the superficial areas of the several universal expositions 
that have been held in Paris since 1867. The exposition of that year 
occupied 152 acres; that of 1878,187 acres, and that of 1889, 240 acres, 
while the space at present available for that of 1900 is about 336 acres. 
This 336 acres includes the made ground on the banks of the Seine, as 
well as the elevated structures on the embankments. Much of this 
made ground is not really desirable for the purpose of exhibits, but may 
be utilized for small pavilions and concessions. It will be seen by his 






























12 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


first letter that tlie director general of exploitation was uncertain aboufi 
the availability of a great deal of the new territory and that he was 
not prepared to make allotments except for the area comprising the 
Champ de Mars and the Esplanade des Invalides. The full extent of 
the allotments of the United States is not definitely set forth in the 
above table, there being no allotment, as will be observed, in the 
departments of fine arts, horticulture, forestry, chase and fisheries, 
social economy and hygiene, colonization, and army and navy. 

As an important adjunct to the Exposition, a part of the beautiful 
Bois de Vincennes is to be used. It was originally intended to locate 
there the exhibits of sports to be held under the supervision of the 
Exposition authorities. Finding, however, that the pressure for space 
by all the governments of the world was very great, it was proposed to 
install there the colonial displays, that on the part of Great Britain in 
particular are large and important. It was practically the only spot 
where outdoor si)ace can be procured, and the Special Commissioner of 
the United States has urged the advisability of placing the forestry 
and some of the outdoor transportation exhibits of the American section 
there. This park is very large and beautifully situated, and, although 
several miles from the center of Paris, the means of transportation will 
be adequate. Compared with the 750 acres covered by the Exposirion 
of 1893 in Cliicago, the site of the coming Exposition seems very small, 
and it is to be noted that 45 per cent of the area of the space available 
for exhibits is reserved for France, leaving only 55 per cent to be divided 
among all foreign countries. 

My opinion, based upon interviews with the executive officers of the 
Exposition and trustworthy information as to their disposition and 
intentions, is that when these additional allotments are made the total 
area of space at the command of the United States will be slightly in 
excess of 200,000 square feet. In 1889, when the entire area of the 
Exposition was 240 acres, our allotment was 113,000 square feet. It is 
safe to say that the increase in our space over 1889 will be even greater 
than the increase in the total area at the disposition of the Exposition 
authorities. While on this subject, I may also say that, although it is 
against the policy of the committees of direction to give out the figures, 
I have every reason to believe that the space accorded to the United 
States will be as large as that accorded to any other country. 

Special efforts were made to secure officially signed drawings show¬ 
ing the exact location of the United States section in each of the several 
edifices, but I was unable to do so in time for their incorporation in this 
report. The chief architect of the Exposition did not have his floor 
and gallery plans with reference to aisles and passageways sufficiently 
advanced to enable him to give exact shapes and dimensions which 
could be used as an official basis for the distribution of space. Up to 
the date of my departure no official drawings of floor si)ace had been 
given to the representatives of any nation. But the United States had 


13 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900, 

received in writing a promise to be placed in every case adjacent to 
some great power. Appended to this report is an official drawing of 
the site of the Exposition and buildings, with the location of different 
departments corrected to the date of my departure. 

The propriety of having a special department for the display of 
woman’s work, to be installed and managed by women, has been 
urged upon the administrative council of the Exposition, but so far with¬ 
out perceptible effect. Mr. Picard and Mr. Delaiinay-Belleville, in reply 
to my uigent representations on this subject, declared their great 
interest in the success of the Woman’s Board of the World’s Colum¬ 
bian Exposition and were enthusiastic in praise of Mrs. Potter Palmer’s 
tact and executive ability, but seemed to be doubtful whether France 
was ready to follow the Chicago example. My efforts to secure any 
definite assurances as to whether there would be a special woman’s 
department were unsuccessful, and I was given to understand that the 
question was still an open one. 

The law under which the Special Commissioner to the Paris Exposi¬ 
tion was appointed makes it his duty not only to report to the Presi¬ 
dent for submission to Congress his proceedings thereunder, but make 
such recommendations as he may deem proper. In view of the facts set 
forth in this report and in the accompanying documents, I strongly 
recommend that there be appointed as early as practicable a commis¬ 
sion to arrange for our participation in the Universal Exposition of 
1900 at Paris, and that an appropriation of 1919,600 be made to defray 
the expenses of such participation and to secure to the United States 
all the advantages to be derived from this beneficent undertaking. 

In furtherance of this recommendation, I respectfully submit the fol¬ 
lowing estimate in detail of the expenditures, which, in my opinion, 
after a careful review of all the circumstances attending our previous 
participation in international expositions, and of the plans of other 
countries with reference to the present Exposition, are absolutely neces¬ 
sary for an adequate representation of the products of our soil and 
industries, and of our progress in the arts and sciences: 

Commissioner-general, three years, at $10,000 per year. 

One assistant commissioner, three years, at $G,000 per year. 

Three commissioners, three years, at $5,000 per year each. 

Secretary to commissioner-general, three years, at $2,500 per year. 

Disbursing officer, three years, at $2,500 per year. 

Clerks to disbursing officer. 

Nine scientific experts, one year, $1,500 each. 

Clerks to experts. 

Architects, engineers, decorators, section superintendents, skilled lalmr_ 

Structural work, housing of exhibits, flooring, railings, decorative material. 

Pavilion for outdoor exhibits. 

Packing, repacking, storage, insurance, day labor, freight, and terminal 

expenses. 

Watchmen and guardians. 

Promotion and selection of exhibits. 


$30, 000 
18, 000 
45, 000 
7, 500 
7,500 
7,500 
13,500 
15, 000 
78, 500 
75,000 
10,000 

80, 000 
10, 000 
25,000 














14 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


Government exhibits: 

Ijabor. $15, 000 

Agriculture.-. 50, 000 

Fisheries. 10, 000 

Education. 25, 000 

Forestry. 15, 000 

Other departments. 25, 000 

- $140, 000 

Art exhibit: Expenses of committees, freight, insurance, traveling, etc- 20,000 

Collection and installation of exhibits of social economy and organized 

charities.- - - 25, 000 

Insurance and care of loan exhibits.-. 10, 000 

Advertising, stationery, and ju’iutiug. 8,000 

Postage, exjiressage, and telegrams. 3, 500 

Translation and compilation of catalogue. 10,000 

Compilation and editing of final report. 20,000 

Rent, offices in America (three years). 15, 000 

Clerk hire and rent, Paris office. 51, 600 

Clerk hire, American offices. 48, 000 

Agent and expenses at port of entry. 5, 000 

Office furniture. 1, 000 

J urors, including compensation and transportation.. 75, 000 

World’s Congresses (industrial, sociological, etc.)... 15, 000 

Exhibits of women’s work .. 25, 000 

Miscellaneous and incidentals. 25, 000 


Total. 919, 600 


The industrial progress of the United States and the evolution of its 
material resources during the hundred years which the Exj)ositiou is to 
crown have been unequaled by that of any other nation. It is not too 
much to say that the United States now stands the greatest nation of 
the world in'all the great lines of industry. According to the figures 
given by the eminent statistician Mulhall in his Industries and Wealth 
of Nations, the United States leads in agriculture, with products greater 
than Russia and the United Kingdom combined; in the manufactures, 
with a product of greater value than the aggregate output of the facto¬ 
ries of the United Kigdom, France, Austria-Hungary, and Belgium 
combined; in machinery, with a greater steam power than the United 
Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, and Italy combined; in mining, with a 
product greater than the United Kingdom and France combined, or 
nearly one-third of that of the entire world; in railway transportation, 
with a mileage 40 per cent greater than that of all Europe; in forestry, 
with products greater than that of all Europe and nearly one-half of 
the total products of the world; in fisheries, with a greater product than 
the United Kingdom, Russia, and Germany combined. 

Few Americans realize the preeminence of America. Foreigners 
know it less. Never has there been a better opportunity to show it to 
the world than is presented by the Universal Exposition of 1900. Th '3 
proof of our superiority means not only the markets of France for our 
products, but those of all Europe and that of Central and South 
America; for all Europe and all the Americas will attend this exposi,- 


























PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


15 


tion. lu fact, Paris will be the Mecca of all the peoples of all the 
nations in 1900. A creditable exhibit will mean not only the offering of 
proof to the world of American greatness, an object which should 
suffice to stir the patriotism of every American heart, but will also be 
followed by an extension of American export trade, which will mean 
increased employment for all engaged in manufacture, agriculture, and 
other industries. These advantages have been dwelt upon at length 
in the appendix to this report, and to the remarks therein made on this 
subject 1 respectfully call attention. 

In recommending that $919,000 be appropriated by the United 
States for the expenses of a proper representation of the products of 
our industry and the natural resources of the country, I have been 
careful not to propose any expenditure not fully justified by knowledge 
and experience. In the past the United States has sufiered because of 
insufficient appropriations for all international expositions except our 
own. These appropriations were less than they should have been, 
largely because the lawmaking power was not in possession of informa¬ 
tion as to what was necessary to be done in order that we might be 
adequately represented. 

The experience of those foreign Governments which have been lib¬ 
eral in provisions for participations in international expositions has 
been so encouraging that almost without exception they will spend 
largely more for representation at Paris in 1900 than ever before. 

The Exposition of 1889 more than any other ever held opened the 
eyes of the world to the practical value of such contests of supremacy 
in the arts of peace. That the great Governments of the world took 
the lesson to heart was shown at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 
1893, when those officially represented therein expended on their 
exhibits from two to eleven times the amount reported to have been pre¬ 
viously spent by them, respectively, in 1889. Germany, which was not 
officially represented in Paris in 1889, spent $856,800 in their organiza¬ 
tion, display, and administration of their particular exhibit at Chicago, 
while the exhibit of France in the Exposition of 1893 cost the French 
Government in round numbers about $1,000,000. 

In 1900 we may expect that not only France, but every other country, 
will meet the United States at Paris with such a demonstration as was 
never thought of before. Germany has been at work for more than 
two years already, and the word has gone forth that no trouble or 
expense is to be spared in making her exhibit the best.^ 


' There is no longer room for any doubt [says Nineteen Hundred, an Exposition 
journal of Paris] on the subject of the part to be jjlayed by Germany in the Universal 
Ex 2 ) 08 ition of 1900. On the 12th of November, at a meeting of the Reichstag, a pre¬ 
liminary sum of 50,000 marks was voted toward the initial expenses of Germany’s 
participation in the “1900.” M. de Boetticher, secretary of state, in reply to a 
qxiestion from M. Singer, stated that it was very probable that the total amount 
that would bo asked for the purpose of Germany’s participation in the coming fair 
would attain 5,000,000 marks. 



16 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


Eussia will make a display in which money will not be considered. 
Anstria-Hnngary and Belgium will make every effort to keep in the 
front rank without regard to what the cost may be. 

While in Paris I made frequent visits to the Exposition grounds and 
carefully studied the topography, the plans, and progress of the work 
upon the buildings. The Parisians, past masters in the art of exposi¬ 
tion making, are proceeding with characteristic energy and enthusiasm, 
and there is no doubt of the completion of the work and the installa¬ 
tion of exhibits by April 15, 1900, the date set for the opening of the 
Exposition. I also secured information as to the financial status of 
the enterprise, and I learned as much as could be ascertained as to the 
installation plans for important departments. All of the information 
thus acquired will be found in the appendix to this report, which I 
hope will not be overlooked, embracing as it does a great variety of 
matter without which it is imj)ossible to have a fair view of the scope 
and magnitude of the Exposition of 1900 and of the relations of the 
United States to the enterprise. 

A word as to the interest in the Exposition on this side of the water. 
The inquiries which I sent out from my offices in Chicago and Kew York 
revealed that this is enormous. Applications informally made by 
intending individual exhibitors show bona fide demands for 152,969 
square feet besides estimated requirements of associated education, 
arts, and mines to the extent of 125,000 square feet. In other words, 
two years before the date fixed for the opening of the Exposition there 
is a demand for more space than was ever occupied by the United 
States in any international exposition on foreign soil. These demands 
emphasize the necessity of cooperating with the authorities of the 
Exposition in their earnest determination to make it one of selection. 
France sets a good example in requiring that all applications for space 
shall be passed upon by two juries of selection or boards of examiners. 
Germany, heartily seconding France’s intentions, j)roposes also to 
thoroughly sift all applications and send to Paris only those articles 
which survive the most careful expert scrutiny. “ Only products of 
the first class will be accepted,” says Mr. Eichter, the German commis¬ 
sioner-general. I strongly recommend that we follow the same policy, 
and would suggest that no article be shipped to Paris for exhibition 
until it has passed the most critical scrutiny of the commissioners, or 
committees of their appointment. My idea would be to have committees 
for this purpose sit in New York and Chicago, and perhaps in other 
cities, whose duty it shall be not only to sift exhibits thoroughly, reject¬ 
ing all that are commonplace, trivial, or in any respect unworthy, but 
also to scale down the space to reasonable dimensions in every case. 
It can not be too thorpughly understood that in the coming Interna¬ 
tional Exposition the difficulty will be not to get exhibitors, but to 
moderate the demands of exhibitors and to meet in any degree the 
requirements of such exhibits as will be a credit and honor to this 
country. 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


17 


The poiinlar interest in the Exposition is not confined to those who 
are interested in material things and who have only business purposes 
in view. I find that men prominently identified witli education and 
the arts and sciences are enthusiastic in view of the opportunity pre¬ 
sented for the representation of American progress in their several 
si)heres. The desirability of fine exhibits in these deiiartments being 
conceded, we can not depend upon the business instincts or selfish 
interests of those concerned to secure such a display as will be inter¬ 
esting and instructive to the world and worthy of our country. Govern¬ 
mental supervision and pecuniary assistance is necessary to make the 
exhibits in the departments of fine arts and education what they ought 
to be, and I have no doubt such supervision and assistance will be forth¬ 
coming. 

In order to prevent a repetition of the difficulties and complications 
reported by former commissioners to international expositions, the 
amount of money to be available for the United States jurors should be 
definitely settled at the outset by the commission to be appointed, and 
not left to after consideration. Jurors play a very important part in 
international exiiositions, and they should be experts in their respective 
jurisdictions. It is this body of men who decide upon the merits of 
exhibits and award the medals and diplomas. They obtain much 
valuable information on the classes to which they are assigned, and 
they are expected to make valuable reports. In 1889 the commissioner- 
general was obliged in many cases to pick up travelers in Europe who 
consented to stay in Paris and serve, many of them unqualified for the 
work. Ill order to pay the salary and expenses of seventy-five expert 
men to care for the interests of American exhibits, a large ai^propriation 
is necessary. 

In comparison with the symmetrical and elegant installations of the 
French departments the United States section suffered greatly in 1889. 
Very little money was available for the necessary constructions, pay of 
architects, artists, etc., and for general decoration. The private instal¬ 
lations were left to the taste of exhibitors, and were incongruous, in 
bad taste, and not in harmony. It was imimssible to obtain concert 
between them, and the Commissioner-General complained that he had 
no power to compel them to construct installations in any particular 
style or manner. To profit by this experience, I concur in his recom¬ 
mendation that very little individual action be allowed exhibitors by 
the commission in the matter of decoration and the display of exhibits. 
A skillful architect with artists should be employed who will make 
the United States section one harmonious note, and all constructions 
and decorations should be subject to expert approval. 

At every international exposition on foreign soil the United States 
has presented some things worth seeing and taken a liberal proportion 
of recompenses. What then may not be expected if for once we present 
S. Doc. I-2 


18 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


ourselves at au iuteruational exposition with a well-selected, thoroughly- 
organized, well-administered, and truly representative exhibit? Why 
not take the place to which we are entitled by our resources, our skill, 
our industry, our progress, and our achievements on every field on 
which the nations of the earth may enter into honorable competition? 

Eespectfully, yours, 

Moses P. Handy, 

Special Commissioner of the United States 

for the Paris Exposition of 1900. 

Washington, D, C., December 1, 1897. 






BirD’S-eye View of the NEW BOULEVARD from 
















E Champs Elysees to the L’Esplanade des Invalides. 




















OFFICIAL LETTERS, INTERVIEWS, AND 
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS 


[ ACCOMPANYING 

THE REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMISSIONER OF THE UNITED 
STATES TO THE PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


19 










APPENDICES. 


Appendix A: 

Official correspondence and interviews between the Paris Exposition officials 
and Special Commissioner Handy. 

Letter of Commissioner Handy to mercbants and manufacturers. 

Appendix B: 

General view of tlie Exposition of 1900. 

Appendix C : 

Financial arrangements. 

Appendix D ; 

General regulations of the Exposition— 

1. Constitutive elements, general organization of services. 

2. Classification of exhibits. 

Appendix E (Regulations—Continued): 

3. Admission of exhibits— 

Works of art. 

Industrial, agricultural, and miscellaneous objects. 

Appendix F (Regulations—Continued): 

4. Shipment, reception, installation, and reshipment of exhibits. 

Works of art. 

Industrial, agricultural, and miscellaneous exhibits. 

5. Municipal duties on exhibits. 

6. Protection of exhibits. 

Appendix G (Regulations—Continued): 

7. Recompenses, diplomas. 

8. Admissions. 

9. Concessions. 

10. Catalogues. 

Appendix H : 

Departmental memoranda— 

Education. 

Letter from United States Commissioner of Education W. T. Harris. 

Fine arts. 

Letter from Halsey C. Ives, chief fine arts at World’s Columbian Exposition. 
Agriculture. 

Mines and mining. 

Electricity. 

Transportation. 

Transportation facilities at the Exposition. 

Forestry. 

Miscellaneous. 

Letter covering exhibits at Tennessee Centennial Exposition. 

Appendix I: 

What the United States has to gain by making a good exhibit at the Paris 
Exposition of 1900. 


21 




Appendix A. 

OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE AND INTERVIEWS. 

Director-Ge7ieral Delaunay-Belleville to Special Commissioner Handy. 

[Translation.] 

EEpublique Franqaise, 

Ministry of Commerce, Industry, 

Posts and Teleoraphs, 
Paris, France, September 22, 1897. 

Mr. Commissary-General : lu accordance with your request, ex¬ 
pressed in the interview which I had the honor to have with you on the 
16th instant, I liasten to send to yon under this cover a statement of the 
space which has been reserved for the section of the United States in 
the Palace of the Champs de Mars and the Esplanade des Invalides. 

In the absence of any information from your Government, we bore in 
mind in the reservation of space in the most important industries the 
great part taken by the manufacturers of the United States in the 
market of the world, of the wonderful progress of your iuciustries, as 
well as the special sym]3athy that exists between the two nations. 

You will surely appreciate the energy and resolution with which we 
have fixed and held the space that we have allotted to you, and this in 
spite of the relatively restricted proportions of our available space; in 
spite, also, of the eager competition of all the other nations, who for 
nearly a year have acquainted us with their wants and have struggled 
with the utmost energy against the reductions which we have been 
obliged to impose upon them in order to preserve intact the space 
which we have kept for you. 

You will kindly note, also, that our Exposition, located in the very 
heart of Paris, can not have the same extent of ground as your beau¬ 
tiful Exposition of Chicago, and that we are forced to limit our ambi¬ 
tion to presenting to the world an exposition of selection, where each 
country, not being able to assemble all the interesting products of its 
industry and its soil, is obliged to select those most important, from a 
scientific, artistic, or commercial point of view, and to display in the 
best light the very essence of its progress in art and industry. 

In order to enable you to understand exactly the appended plan, I 
submit herewith certain explanations, and especially advise you of cer¬ 
tain steps which have been taken with the view of facilitating the 
installation of foreign exhibits in our buildings. 

On the Champs de Mars Groups VII and X (food products) will be 
combined. It will be the same case with Groups I (education) and III 
(instruments and general processes of letters, sciences, and arts), and 
in the third place of Groups IV (mechanics) and V (electricity). 

I inform you, finally, that class 33 (material of navigation and com¬ 
merce) will form the object of especial and distinctly separate exhibit 
22 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


23 


from Group VI, to ^Tllich it is attached by our classification. This class 
33 will be installed in an edifice situated on the left bank of the Seine. 
We will notify you hereafter as to the amount of space available in this 
Palace of INavigation. 

On the Esplanade des Invalides will be installed Groups XII (deco¬ 
rations and furniture) and XV (various industries). The allotment of 
the exhibit of class 73, which will be assigned to the Champs de Mars, 
will be designated later on. We have decided that in order to obtain 
the most interesting and decorative effects the foreign sections of 
Groups XII and XV shall be united in a single installation, in which 
shall be gathered all the objects belonging to these groups. Besides, 
it will beyond doubt be possible to allot to those nations which prove 
to us the necessity for the extension of space an annex under the 
(Juinconx, where there may be installed exhibits either in the open air 
or under light pavilions so constructed as not to injure the trees which 
shade this promenade. 

The allotment of space assigned in the palace to Groups II (fine 
arts), VIII (horticulture and agriculture), IX (forestry, the chase, fish, 
and wild and uncultivated vegetable products), XVI (social economy 
and sanitary charities), XVII (colonization), and XVIII (army and 
navy) will be the subject of farther communications as soon as the 
study of the distribution of the several sections in the building devoted 
to these groups will permit us to know the extent of space which can 
be awarded to each country. 

Very truly, yours, 

Delaunat-Belleville. 


Utat des surperficies maxima des emplacements pouvant Stre affeete's a la section des JpJtats- 
Unis dans les palais dn Cliamp-de-Mars et des Invalides. 


Noa. des 
gronpes. 

Designation des groupes. 

Superfi¬ 

cies. 

I 

III 

IV 
v 

Education, enseignement . 

T.dt+'rACj Qr»iPL-nf*Aa cirta 

Ohamp-de-Mars. 

1 800 


lVr^p,5i.Tiintie - 

I 3,500 


VI 

VII 

G6nie civil, inoins ia classe 3;i, 4 laquelle uu emplacement special sera reserve.. 

1,200 
} 1,500 

Afiments (food products) . 


XI 


500 

XIII 


1,000 

XIV 


800 



Invalides. 


XII 

XV 

Decoration et raobilier.. fmoins la classe 73, 4 laquelle un emplacement special 

T'r*r1notT»iAa fl iTTAvaAQ 1 QP.PG. 

} 800 



Le Directeiir General de FExploitation: 


Paris, le 17 sept., 1897. 
Delaunay-Belleville. 


Approuv6: 


Le CoMMissAiKE General. 


NOTA.— Les cliiffres du tableau ci-dessus repr^seuteut les superficies de Teusemble 
du rez-de-cbauss^e et du premier 6tage, j' coiupris les passages principaux et secon- 
daires, escaliers, etc. 























^4 PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 

Special Commissioner Ha^idy to the Director-General of Exploitation. 

Office of the Special Commissioner of 

THE United States for the Paris 
International Exposition of 1900, 

Paris, France, September 23, 1897. 

Dear Mr. Director-General: I have the honor to acknowJed|?e 
the receipt of your valued favor of the 21st instant, in which you have 
been so obliging as to give me a statement of the spaces which have 
been reserved for the United States of America in the Palaces of the 
Champs de Mars, and of the Esplanade des Invalides. In making this 
acknowledgment I beg, Mr. Director-General, to express also my appre¬ 
ciation of the consideration shown by the Exposition authorities in 
their anticipation of the acceptance by the United States Government 
of the invitation of the French Eepublic to a participation in the 
Universal Exposition of 1900. Eest assured, dear sir, that this mind¬ 
fulness of our interest and friendly interpretation of our purposes will 
be very grateful to the President, and to the people of the United States. 

I avail myself also of this opportunity to say that the delay of the 
United States in accepting that hospitable invitation, was due in no 
degree to a lack of sympathetic interest in the great enterprise which 
you have in hand. The President has in two messages to Congress 
urged the acceptance of that invitation, and the authorization of the 
present Commission by Congress, at a special session convened for 
other purposes, is not only responsive to the President’s suggestion, 
but indicative of a desire, at the earliest moment, to provide for an 
earnest, active, and creditable participation of the United States in the 
coming Exposition. 

The limitations imposed upon your kind intentions by the fact that 
the Exposition will be located in the very heart of your great capital, 
and the consequent necessity of making it “an exposition of selec¬ 
tion” I recognize as insuperable, and yet I am constrained to think 
that on a view of the situation Avith fuller knowledge of our intentions 
and reasonable expectations, you will agree with me that the space 
accorded to the United States, by the terms of your letter, is much less 
than we are entitled to expect and far from such an allotment as would 
enable us to make an adequate exibit of the products of our soil and 
industry, or to quote your own well-chosen words “to display in the 
best light the very essence of our progress in art and industry.” 

In support of this proposition I beg to say that in my capacity as 
Special Commissioner I have already taken measures to feel the pulse 
of the United States on the question of participation, with a view to 
ascertaining the number of probable exhibitors, and the character and 
extent of their proposed exhibits. 

The result is most gratifying. Advices by cable and mail from Hew 
York and Chicago give assurance that the demand for space by Amer¬ 
ican exhibitors will be something quite unprecedented. In the depart¬ 
ments of agriculture and agricultural machinery there are applications 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


25 


at this early day for over 100,000 square feet; for machinery, the requi¬ 
sition is for about the same amount; in transportation exhibits, 25,000 
square feet, including 4,500 for outdoor exhibits are called for; in edu¬ 
cation and liberal arts we shall need 25,000 square feet; in mines and 
mining 25,000, and in industrial arts 100,000 square feet; while the 
estimated requirement for our fine arts exhibit is 20,000 square feet. 
These figures 1 beg you to observe are not guesswork, but are the 
result in most cases of a canvass of the several branches of art and 
industry repectively concerned, while in others, for example mines, 
education, and fine arts, they are the minimum estimates by experts of 
recognized authority. 

Some of these requirements may be met perhaps by a readjustment 
of the space which you propose to place at our disposal, or have not 
yet apportioned. For example, we shall ask little of that set apart for 
Groups 17 and 18, of which our share has not yet been allotted. You 
speak of your intention to install all foreign exhibits for Groups 12 and 
15 together, and state that an extension of space caji be had outdoors 
in small pavilions. I do not understand the location of these struc¬ 
tures, nor have I any indication of the space which they will cover, and 
I therefore ask that the position and extent of them be indicated to me. 

It is clear, however, that the United States needs a great deal more 
space in these groups than has been reserved. The proposed assign¬ 
ments for Groups 1 and 2 and 4 and 5 seem to me far inadequate for a 
nation which has at previous international expositions, despite adverse 
conditions no longer prevailing, made such creditable exhibits in edu¬ 
cation, the fine arts, and the mechanic arts, and which, in respect to 
electrical inventions, takes second place to no nation in the world. As 
to fine arts, I beg you to recall the fact that in 1889, when we were 
allotted 7,800 square feet for this department, the United States exhib¬ 
itors received as large a proportion of the recompenses as any nation 
except France; since 1889, our progress in fine arts has been very great 
and our position in the estimation of the world has been immensely 
strengthened. 

I might refer to other departments in detail, but for the present it is 
sufficient, I feel assured, to invite your attention to the fact that, as I 
understand it, you propose to allow us much less, instead of more, space 
than we were accorded in 1889. Our allotment in that Exposition was 
113,300 square feet, subdivided as follows: 


Department. 

Square 

feet. 

Department. 

Square 

feet. 

"Finft artfl. 

7, 800 
6, 000 
37, 600 
40, 225 

3, 250 

Agricultural galleries. 

17,350 
1,075 

Tiihftral fi.rt.sj . 

A ^rir.nltnrfll mnehiUAft.. . . 

Tn f1 n fltri A,1 rinnrt,.Q 

Total. 

TVTnp.liiTipry Tin,11 

113, 300 

Railway section. 



With perfect acquiescence in the idea of an “ Exposition of Selec¬ 
tion,” I can not bring myself to believe that the most rigorous equitable 



















26 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900, 


enforcement of that idea would reduce our space, when we can show a 
reasonable prospect of an infinitely larger, better organized, and better- 
selected exposition of the products of our soil and industry. 

Surely the magnitude and variety of the industries of the United 
States will command from our sister Eepublic a recognition in some 
degree commensurate with their proportions, nor can I doubt that on 
a full review of the circumstances you will be disposed to favor my 
country with an allotment of space which will enable us to compete on 
equal terms with any other nation in the friendly contest for supremacy 
in the arts of peace, in which we have been so courteously invited to 
take part. 

Soliciting an early opportunity for a further exchange of views on 
the vital subject covered by your letter and this reply, 

I am, Mr. Director-General, with assurances of my most distinguished 
consideration, very truly, yours, 

Moses P. Handy, 

Special CommisHioner of the United States. 


Director-General Delaunay-Bellemlle to Special Commissioner Handy. 

[Translation.] 

Paris, France, October 1,1897. 

Mr. Commissioner-General: I have the honor to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter of September 23, and to thank you for the senti¬ 
ments you so well express, in perfect harmony with those which I had 
the honor to convey to you in my letter of the 21st. 

I do not doubt that because of this harmony of our respective opin¬ 
ions it will be easy for us to agree if you will consider the difliculty of 
our task. 

You call my attention to the fact that the exhibit of the United 
States at the exposition of 1889 occupied a superficies of 113,300 square 
feet, and you add that in accepting the iiropositious made to you in our 
letter of September 23 you will be obliged to content yourselves for the 
Exposition of 1900 with a surface, which would imply, on our part, the 
intention to reduce considerably the importance of your participation. 

Be so kind, Mr. Commissioner-General, as to refer to the list which 
accompanied my letter of the 23d and you will observe that the list in 
question, as Ave remarked in the letter to which it was subjoined, did 
not include the group of fine arts—Class 33 of Group VI, Group VIII, 
Group XI, Class 73 of Group XIT, and Groups XVI, XVII, and XVIII— 
and you will understand that we have provided for the section of the 
United States in each of our groups spaces which together form a total 
•considerably greater than those occupied in 1889 by your exhibits. 

If, now, we compare in detail the figures of your participation in 
1889 with those indicated by us for the corresponding group of the 
classification of 1900, we will arrive at the same conclusion. 



PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


27 


Liberal arts in 1889 answer to Groups I and III in 1900. Yon bad 
620 square meters in tbe last exposition, and we have reserved for you 
800, about 25 per cent more, for you in the next. 

At tbe xialace of various industries of 1889, corresponding actually 
to Groups XI, XII, XIII, XIY, and XY, you occupied formerly 3,450 
square meters, while this time Ave have reserved for you 4,400 square 
meters. 

In tbe gallery of macliines, which comprised tbe section of transimr- 
tation, yonr part at tbe last exposition was 4,375 scpuire meters, it is 
now 4,700 square meters. 

In tbe agricultural exhibit tbe section of tbe United States covered 
a space of 1,603 square meters, and tbe figure of our list is nearly equal, 
being fixed at 1,500 square meters. We bad not supposed that in tbe 
department of agriculture there would be produced any notable 
changes, by reason of tbe remarkable perfection to which in 1889 you 
bad carried tbe manufacture of agricultural machinery. We are dis¬ 
posed, nevertheless, as you will see farther on, to increase on this point 
tbe figures we have already given you. 

Without being able to attain even nearly tbe figures which you give 
us on page 3 of your letter as representing tbe extent of your actual 
need, we have, however, endeavored by new arrangements to obtain 
additional space which we will be glad to add to that which we had 
previously reserved for you. We sincerely regret our inability to do 
more, but you will remark surely with satisfaction that the new eflbrts 
which we have made have not been sterile, but bear an important 
amelioration. 

GROUPS I AND III. 

We have obtained a new allotment of 200 square meters, which will 
increase to 1,000 square meters your space in the building reserved for 
these groups. If you will compare this figure with that of 620 square 
meters in 1889, there results in your favor an augmentation of more 
than 50 per cent. 

GROUPS IV, V, AND VI. 

In the Groups lY and Y, mechanics and electricity, we can add 1,000 
square meters to the 3,500 already noted. In Group YI, we add 400 
square meters, increasing this to 1,600 meters, the surface of your sec¬ 
tion. The total of the space thus conceded to these three groups (cor¬ 
responding to the old gallery of machines which includes the section of 
transportation) will form then a total of 6,100 square meters—that is 
to say, an increase of nearly 50 per cent by comparison with the figures 
of 1889, which were 4,375 square meters. 

Kindly remark also that Group YI of the Exposition of 1889 included 
the machinery and the material of all other industries, while Group lY 
of the new classification actually embraces only motors and useful 
machines. The real increase in this part of the Exposition is, there¬ 
fore, much greater than would appear at first sight. 


28 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


GROUPS VII AND X. 

In these groups we have succeeded iu gaining a space of 400 square 
meters, which we add to 1,500 square meters already granted. 

GROUPS XII AND XV. 

We can in short add 500 square meters to the two Groups XII and 
XV together, which will allow then 2,000 in place of the 1,500 square 
meters already assigned you iu these groups. 

We do not doubt that you will appreciate, at their full value, the 
efforts (exertions) which we have had to make, and the difficulties that 
we have had to overcome in order to obtain this increase of space in 
your favor, when all our space had already been divided among the 
various nations which will take part in the Exposition of 1900. 

It is, besides, impossible for us to delay longer the allotment of space 
in the various buildings of the Champ de Mars and the Esplanade des 
Invalides. It is on the definite figures which result from considerable 
concessions, which we have just shown you, and which ^ve reproduce 
in the new list hereby subjoined, that we rely upon to terminate a 
decision which the advancement of our works and the demands of the 
various powers no longer permit us to defer. 

Kindly accept, Mr. Commissioner-General, the expression of my senti¬ 
ments of high consideration. 

Delaunay-Belleville, 

The Director-General of Exploitation, 
Vice-President of the Committee of Directors. 


Btat des superficies maxima des emplacements pouvant etre affectes d la section des £tats- 
Vnis dans lespalais du Champ de Mars et des Invalides. 


JSTos. des 
groupes. 

Designation des groupes. 

Superfi¬ 

cies. 


Champ de Mars. 


I 

Education, enseignement. 

V 1,000 

III 

Lettres, sciences, arts. 

IV 

M6caniqiie. 

) 

V 

Electricite. ' ''' 

1 4,500 

VI 

G6nie civil. 

VII 

Agriculture. 

j 1.900 

X 

Aliments. 

XI 


XIII 

Tissus. 

oUU 

1 onn 

XVI 

Industrie cliiinique. 

1, ^UU 
400 


Invalides. 


XII 

Decoration etmobilier. 

} 2,000 

XV 

Industries diverses. 




Le Directenr g6n^ral de Fexploitatiou: 
Approve: Le Commissaire G6n^ral: 


Pakis, le octolre 1897. 
Delaunay-Belleville. 


A. Picard. 


Le total des superficies correspondant aux groupes d^sigu^s ci-dessusest de 13 100 
metres carr^s, soit environ 141,500 pieds carr^s. ^ ^ io,iuo 

Nota.—L es chiffres du tableau ci-dessus repr^senteiit les superficies de I’ensemble 
dairerercaUm-r e^tc* ^tage, y compris les passages priucipaux et secou- 























PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900 . 29 

Special Commissioner Handy to Director-General Delaunay-Belleville. 

Office of the Special Commissioner of the 
United States for the Paris International 

Exposition of 1900, 

Paris, France, October 6, 1897. 

My Dear Mr. Director-General: Acknowledging the receipt of 
your welcome communication of October 1, I desire to make renewed 
exiiression of my apiireciation of the good will toward the Government 
and the people of the United States manifested in your efforts to pro¬ 
vide adequate space for our participation in your great Exposition. 

In the new light thrown on your proposition by your favor of the 1st 
instant, as well as in view of the liberal concession made in your new 
tabulation, I believe that we may now quickly come to an understand¬ 
ing acceptable alike to my Government and to the authorities of the 
Exposition. These concessions serve also to assure me that the spirit 
ill which my representations were made was thoroughly reciprocated 
by Mr. Picard and yourself, and are a substantial justification of my 
contention and testimony of the efficacy of our joint efforts to reach 
an equitable solution of the problem imposed upon you by the physical 
limitations of your Exposition. Keviewing in detail, I understand you 
now to provide for us as follows in the disposition of spaces: 



Square 

meters. 

Square 

feet. 

Liberal arts: Groups 1 and 3. 

1,000 

10, 750 

Fine arts: Groun 2 a . 

Machinery, electricity, and appliances: Groups 4 and 5. 

4, 500 
1, 900 

48,420 
20,444 

Agriculture, food products: Groups 7 and 10. 

Horticulture: Group 8 a . 

Forestry, chase, and fisheries: Group 9 a. 



Mines and mining: Group 11. 

500 

2, 000 
1. 200 
400 
1,600 

5,380 

21,520 
12, 916 
4,301 
17,216 

Manufacturers, etc: 

Groups 12 and 15. 

Group 13. 

Group 14. • . 

Transportation: Group 6. 

Social economy, hygiene: Group 16 a. 

Colonization : Group 17 a. 



Army and nayy: Group 18 a. 







a No allotment. 


I am satisfied that you have done all that is possible, for the present, 
in the allotment of Groups 1 and 3, 4 and 5, 7 and 10, and for 12, 13, 
14, and 15; and in accepting them, so far as I can do so under the con¬ 
ditions of the present commissionership, I acknowledge with .thanks 
the liberal increase made, in deference to my representations, in all 
but one of these departments. With regard to agriculture and food 
products I am not indeed quite content, for the United States has 
much to show in these departments ; but I feel the force of your sug¬ 
gestions that in 1889 we had carried the manufacture of agricultural 
machinery to a point beyond which it would be difficult to go much 
further in the time which has since elapsed. ^Nevertheless you will 
have no cause to regret the addition of 400 square meters to your first 
allotment. 
























30 


PAlilS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


As to Group C, I venture to hope that you may hud it possible to add 
a liberal allowance of outdoor space for the expected hue exhibit of the 
Pennsylvania and the New York Central Railroad companies and of 
the Pullman Palace Car Company, whose displays were among the 
most attractive at the Chicago Exposition, and which, as I have reason 
to believe, will be surpassed by their exhibits of 1900. 

In respect to Group 11, I fear you underestimate our needs and the 
attractiveness and value of the exhibits which we have in view. Pro¬ 
fessor Skiff, director of the Field Columbian Museum at Chicago, and 
chief of the department of mines and mining at the World’s Columbian 
Exposition, is my authority for an estimate of not less than 25,000 
square feet for our mining exhibit in Paris in 1900. Perhaps, however, 
it is your intention to provide for our display of mining machinery 
apart from the products of our mines, in the quarries under the Troca- 
dero Hill, which I learn have been set aside for some such purpose. 

Referring to spaces not yet allotted, I recur to the subjoined para¬ 
graph of your letter of September 22: 

Tbe allotment of space in the palace assigned to Groups 2 (fine arts), 8 (horticul¬ 
ture and arboriculture), 9 (forestry, chase, fish and fisheries, and wild and tiucultivated 
vegetable products), 16 (social economy and sanitary charities), 17 (colonization), 
and 18 (army and navy), will be the subject of further communication as soon as the 
study of the distribution of the sevei’al sections in the palace devoted to these groups 
will permit us to learn the extent of space which we can award to such countries. 

From these remarks 1 gather that the spaces set aside for the groups 
therein enumerated will be hereafter allotted. I have heretofore dwelt 
upon the importance which we attach to an adequate reservation for 
our fine arts exhibit. We shall need 20,000 square feet of wall space 
in order to disj)lay our paintings, etc., viz, oils, water colors, engraving 
woodcuts, in which we are unexcelled, steel and copper plates, etch¬ 
ings, dry point, black and white, etc, and architectural drawings in 
various media. Apart from, or in excess of this wall space, the esti¬ 
mated requirements of floor space for sculpture is 1,600 square feet. I 
venture to recall in this connection my verbal suggestion that our 
space in 1889 was unfortunately located in upper galleries and quite 
out of the way, and in connection herewith I recall also your kind 
assurance that we shall have our due proportion of space, as compared 
with other countries, on the ground floor. 

In regard to forestry I can promise you an exhibit which will deserve 
most liberal treatment. There is now going on at Nashville, Tenn., an 
industrial exposition, the management of which has offered free trans¬ 
portation for exhibits there on the condition that they become the prop¬ 
erty of the Exposition Company as trustees for the United States 
Government to exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1900. Under this 
arrangement many very valuable exhibits are already on hand, chiefly 
in the mineral and forestry departments. The collections in these 
departments covering economic woods and geology are the finest ever 
made in our Southern States, and we shall add to them equally fine 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


31 


displays from the woods of the Northern, Western, Pacific, and Eastern 
States, on the lines of the exhibits made at the World’s Columbian 
Exposition. 

There are other departments in which 1 am not without hope that 
you may yet find it possible to give us more space than now seems 
practicable, but realizing fully the physical limitations of your under¬ 
taking, and the many and conflicting claims that must be satisfied, I 
will not add to your responsibility and labors by anticipating questions 
that may be safely left to conferences of the future for determination. 

A bill now before the Congress of the United States, making an appro¬ 
priation for our representation in your Exposition, provides for the 
erection of a building on the grounds to be used as the headquarters of 
the United States Commission. I understand that the ground has been 
set apart for such governmental buildings. May I ask you to indicate 
on the general plans where and what reservation will be made for the 
United States, in order that plans for the erection of our building may 
be prepared as soon as possible. 

I shall avail myself of an early opportunity at your convenience to 
address you certain inquiries as to the matter of concessions, as I desire 
some information suiiplementary to that given in the official regulations. 

Accept, Mr. Director-General, the assurance of my high consideration. 

Moses P. Handy, 

Special Commissioner of the United States. 


Interview of the Special Commissioner with Mr. Delaunay ■Belleville.^ 

October 7, 1897. 

Accompanied by my staff. Lieutenant Baker and Colonel Long, I 
called on Mr. Delaunay-Belleville to thank him for his courtesy and to 
discuss several points regarding the correspondence leading up to the 
allotment of space for the United States section. Mr. Delaunay-Belle¬ 
ville had on his desk my letter of October 6 accepting the space offered 
the United States with a discussion of several points with a view of an 
increase in some of the departments. The interview lasted an hour and 
was marked by the greatest cordiality and courtesy. Mr. Delaunay- 
Belleville’s attention was called to the great agricultural interests of 
the United States, and a request for an increase of space in tliat depart¬ 
ment was made. The amount reserved was apparently large, but was 
not sufficient to satisfy the demands of our harvesting machinery com¬ 
panies and the agricultural interests of our country. Mr. Delaunay- 
Belleville stated that he understood that point and would endeavor to 
increase the allotment, but that at this moment it would not be possible 
to give a definite answer as to the amount of that increase, as the area 
of available space was not yet definitely decided. In answer to a sug¬ 
gestion in his letter that the United States had made very little prog¬ 
ress in agricultural machinery since 1889,1 called his attention to the 


1 Reported by Lieut. A. C. Baker. 





32 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


error of that assumption and pointed out improvements in all machines 
and the invention of many new ones. In response to my question 
whether arrangements would be made for competitive trials ot agricul¬ 
tural and harvesting machines he reported that such trials would be 
held, but that the conditions of the competition and details of location 
had not been decided. He would, however, make that the subject of 
further communication as soon as any definite action was taken. He 
stated here that he would personally do all in his power to further the 
interests of the United States in this matter as well as in all others. 

I then called his attention to the small space reserved for transporta¬ 
tion exhibits, stating that the United States desires to make a fine 
exhibit in that department, and that the location and extent of the out¬ 
door space for the magnificent Pennsylv^ania, INew York Central, and 
Pullman trains was not set forth in his letter. He stated that he did not 
know the amounts of outdoor space available, and that it was impossible 
for him at this stage to make any definite allotment. In this connec¬ 
tion he said that the Exposition authorities were now studying the ques¬ 
tion of the location of the boilers and dynamos for the generation and 
transmission of power to the various engines, and until that was decided 
he was unable to locate our exhibit outdoors. In the discussion that 
followed it developed that the motive power of all machinery in the 
Exposition would be electricity; that American companies desiring to 
furnish power could install their boilers and dynamos and that they 
would be paid by the Exposition Company so much per horsepower, an 
amount not yet fixed. However, no engines developing less than 1,000 
horsepower would be accepted. The exhibitors who wish power to run 
their engines for live exhibits to manufacture or show processes would be 
provided power gratis (in Chicago there was a charge for this). This 
materially increases the available space for the machinery and electrical 
exhibits of the United States, for these are special allotments, and not 
included in the table of reservation of space in the various edifices. 
The electric transmission of power makes the plan to show the machine 
alongside of its manufactured product possible, and infinitely increases 
the educational value of the Exposition. This point and the way it is to 
be accomplished is now thoroughly understood. 

On going back to the transportation exhibits, I suggested that in 
case sufficient space could not be obtained on the Exposition grounds 
it might be wise to consider the advisability of installation in Vin¬ 
cennes, where there was plenty of room, and where a complete show¬ 
ing of American transportation could be made. The director-general 
took a note of this point for future consideration, and also of the sug¬ 
gestion I made of showing trains in actual operation; the last sugges¬ 
tion made a most favorable impression. Of course, the gauge, projec¬ 
tions, bridges, stations, platforms, etc., must be studied before this idea 
could be carried out—the platforms for the lauding of passengers are 
quite different in Europe—still, this exhibit could be made, and it would 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


33 


attract great attention. In case it is clecidetl to make formal applica¬ 
tion of showing transportation in this manner, it will be necessary to 
furnish the Exposition Company all these details. I informed him that 
an English train had been shown in Chicago, and had made the trip 
from Chicago to New York (1,000 miles) drawn by its own engine; this 
exhibit was made by the London and Northwestern; also the enormous 
Krnpp gun was transported from Baltimore to Chicago and returned. 

When I brought up the subject of forestry, he said that unfortu¬ 
nately the building devoted to that exhibit was necessarily very small. 
I called his attention to the magnificent American woods and stated that 
at the Exposition now being held in Tennessee there was a magnificent 
collection available for Paris in 1900, besides a great many private col¬ 
lections which could be obtained. A most instructive and attractive 
exhibit could be made by us in case we had sufficient space. In connec¬ 
tion with this, the possibility of a large space in Vincennes was consid¬ 
ered, where a special building could be constructed by us on the lines 
of the one in Chicago, though smaller, and this will be taken up by me 
later. 

Horticulture .—The horticultural allotment can not be made, as the 
plans of the hothouses have not yet been approved. This exhibit will 
of course be subject to the same conditions as in Chicago, one exhibit 
replacing another as the season advances. In case outdoor space is 
desired for flowers or lawn decorations, a plan must be elaborated by 
a committee in the United States, stating the flowers desired to be 
shown, and giving exact dates, so that the experts in this country 
can take up the matter and make definite arrangements and allotments. 
Fresh fruit from America can be shown in the building, one fruit 
replacing another in season. This would form a most attractive display, 
and would be a good advertisement for our canned fruits. He requested 
that the Exposition authorities be informed as soon as iiossible the 
intention of the United States in regard to the horticultural exhibit. 

• Electrical .—In response to a request by me for information regarding 
the ruling of the location of exhibits of companies doing business in 
France, the director-general stated, most clearly, that American com¬ 
panies established in France, under French law, forming a French com¬ 
pany, and actually manufacturing, would exhibit in the French section. 
Companies established here under contracts, but not creating a manu¬ 
factured jiroduct, would be forced to install in the American section; 
that the decision where the company exhibited, or under which nation 
it exhibited, would be decided by the Exposition authorities, and not 
by the exhibitor. As a principle, it is with the manufactured product 
alone that the Exposition deals. 

Concessions .—I informed the director-general that I had on file several 
applications for concessions, and I asked him if a priority of applica¬ 
tion was any advantage to the concessionaire. He stated distinctly 
“No;” that the plans of all concessionaires, would be studied carefully 


34 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


by a committee appointed for that purpose without regard to priority 
of application. He also said that the amount of percentage required 
by the Exposition had not yet been settled, and that the jiayments 
would not be uniform, but would depend upon the nature of the conces¬ 
sion. I promised to send him a letter stating briefl}^ the nature of the 
concessions now on file in my office, so that they could be brought to 
his notice. He agreed to furnish me with all the information of that 
nature as soon as the Exposition authorities reached some definite plan. 

Fine arts .—I informed Mr. Delaunay-Belleville that I had dwelt at 
some length upon the allotment in fine arts in my letter of October 6, 
so as to bring our requirements and demands formally before his 
ofiice. There was so much dissatisfaction in the art department in 
1889 that I was very anxious that both in location and area of space 
the American artists should fare as well as those of any other country; 
indeed, the colony of American artists in Paris is much larger than that 
of any other country; besides, tremendous strides have been made by 
our artists since 1889, many of their pictures having been purchased 
by the French Government and placed in the Luxembourg Palace. I 
earnestly requested him to bear in mind these facts, and urged him to 
personally look out for our interests when the allotment is made. He 
liromised that he would give us special consideration and do the utmost 
in his power to satisfy our demands. It is impossible to make a defi¬ 
nite allotment at this moment, as the Exposition authorities are not in 
possession of the plans of the hanging space or of the floor space in 
fine arts. 

I informed him that I was anxious to leave Paris on October 25, and 
hoped he would iiush matters and answer my letter of October 6, so 
that I would not be delayed beyond that date. He said he was study¬ 
ing the details of that letter, and hoped to furnish me with an answer 
not later than Monday, October 11. 

In answer to my inquiry as to where the principal installation of the 
United States would be made, he stated in the manufactures building, 
on the Esplanade des Invalides, which was the finest architecturally 
and would have the most elaborate decoration. It is in this building 
where the United States will have the greatest prominence and where 
its installation will attract the most attention. 

Mr. Delaunay-Belleville, in compliance with my representation that 
in regard to location the United States desired to have as neighbors 
the great powers, stated that as far as he was able he would put the 
United States section next the great exhibitors of Europe. 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 35 

Special Commissioner Handy to Director-General Delaunay-Belleville. 

Office of the Special Commissioner 
OF THE United States for the Paris 

International Exposition of 1900, 

Paris, France, October 11, 1897. 

Dear Sir: In accordance with the verbal understanding in our last 
interview I have the honor to hand you herewith a list of the applica¬ 
tions of citizens of the United States for concessions which have been 
received by me up to the present time. These applications are accom¬ 
panied by memoranda of the nature of the concessions respectively 
desired. 

I quite understand that it is too early to have definite action on these 
matters, but I desire to reserve for the aj>plicants such l ights, if any, 
as may be implied in priority of application. 

If, in any case, you should wish to be put in direct communication 
with the applicants, I shall be glad to meet your wishes. 

In acknowledging this letter I shall be glad if you will kindly inform 
me of any modifications which may have been made in the matter of 
concessions since the regulations heretofore promulgated were pub¬ 
lished ; upon what terms concessions are to be granted, whether they 
are to be let in competition to the highest bidder, what deposit of 
security will be required, what extent, if at all, concessions for restau¬ 
rants, refreshments, or music will be exclusive, etc. 

I am receiving many letters from America on these topics, and will 
be exceedingly obliged for all information bearing thereon which may 
be in your power to give. 

Thanking you in advance, and with assurances of my high esteem, 
I am, yours, very truly, 

Moses P. Handy, 

Special Commissioner of the United States. 


Propositions submitted to United States Special Commissioner, Universal Exposition, 

Paris, 1900. 


Name. 

Address* 

Date. 

Proposition. 



J Illy 5 
Aug. 26 
Aug. 27 
_do_ 

American Theater. 


Nashville. 

Panorama “Battle {rf Gettysburg. ” 
American bar. 



Andrew McNally and 
otliers. 


American railroad and ticket office. Bu- 

.do. 

. .do_ 

reau of information for travelers. 

A picture of the World’s Columbian Expo¬ 
sition. 

American restaurant. 

S. B. Cross. 

Parkersburg, W. Va .. 

Sept. 6 

Louis B. Anderson, for 
Codj' & Saullsbury. 

F. Ziegfeld, jr. 

Chicago. 

Herald Square Thea- 

...do- 

Sept. 8 

WTld West Show. (Buifalo Bill—Hon. W. 
F. Cody.) 

Sousa’s Military Band. 


ter, New York. 

47 Bd. Haussman. 

Sept. 27 
-.-do- 

Illustrating goldmine working. 

Scott H. Tolman. 

16 Temple Placd, Bos- 

Steel glohe tower. 


ton. 


American cafd. 


Providence, K. I. 

Sept. 25 
Sept. 27 
Sept. 2 

Electrical illuminating fountain. 



Sale of American beefl 

Capt. E. Lawton. 

Manning, N. Y. 

“The Six Nation Indian Exhibition Co.” 






































36 PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 

Director-General Delaunay-Belleville to Special Commissioner Handy. 

[Translation,] 

Eepublique FRANgAisE, Ministry oi’ Commerce, 

Industry, Posts and Telegraphs, 

Paris., October 13, 1897. 

Mr. Commissioner-General: I have the honor to acknowledge 
recei])t of your letter of the 11th instant, in which you communicate to 
me a list of applications which have been addressed to you by divers 
citizens of the United States with a view to attain certain concessions 
at the Exposition Universelle of 1900. 

I hasten to inform you that these applications have been submitted 
to the commissioner-general and carefully noted in order that they may 
be considered as far as it may be possible when these questions of con¬ 
cessions come up for examination. 

Accept, Mr. Commissioner-General, the expression of my high con¬ 
sideration. 

Delaunay-Belleville, 

The Director- General of Exploitation, 
Vice-President of the Committee of Direction. 


Director-General Delaunay-Belleville to Special Commissioner Handy. 

[Translation.] 

Eepublique FRANgAiSE, Ministry of Commerce, 

Industry, Posts and Telegraphs, 

Paris, October 13, 1897. 

Mr. Commissioner-General : I have duly received your letter of 
the 6th of October. 

I am very happy to note that we are entirely in accord as to Groups 
I and III, IV and Y, YU and X, XII, XIII, and XIY and XY. 

You explained that an increase of 400 square meters in agriculture 
and alimentation (food products) would be particularly agreeable to 
you. I can state that an allottment of that dimension can be given 
you outside of the (palaces) agricultural buildings for harvesting 
machines, agricultural products which can be installed in the open air, 
or under like structures furnished by yourself. 

I hope that this new arrangement will give you entire satisfaction. 

As to Group YI, you expressed the desire that a large addition of 
space in the open air may be accorded to you, that it may be placed at 
the disposition of several great companies (railroads) of the United 
States for the purpose of exhibiting their material. You also stated in 
the conversation which I had the honor to have with you that this exhibit 
might be placed in the park at Vincennes, where will also be installed 
numerous exhibits of sport and transportation. 



PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


37 


I make a favorable note of this suggestion and think I shall be able 
to meet your wishes. You also stated that you were interested in 
having the transportation material, notably the Pullman cars, running 
upon certain parts of the French railway lines. The commissioner- 
general at this moment sees no objection to this suggestion. It is 
understood, however, that the interested parties will have to arrange 
this matter with the French railway comiiany, notably with relation to 
the weight of wagons, length, the radius of arcs, and the matter of 
stations. 

In Group XI fresh examinations and renewed efforts permit me to 
augment by 200 square meters the space already allotted you, which 
makes 700 square meters your allotment for this group. 

I hope that you will be satisfied with this increase. It is, of course, 
independent of anything you make in the underground Exposition of 
the Trocadero after communicating with the mining committee of 
France, concessionnaires of these grounds. 

As to the space not yet allotted, we take favorable notice of your 
express desires in the conclusion of your letter, and we will bear it most 
favorably in mind when the subdivision is made very soon. 

Accept, Mr. Commissioner-General, the expression of my sentiments 
of high consideration. 

Delaunay-Belleville, 

The Director-General of Exploitation, 
Vice-President of the Committee of Directors. 


Special Commissioner Handy to Director-General Delaunay-Belleville 

Paris, France, October 15, 1897. 

Mr. Director-General : I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 
the 13th of October, in which you graciously make an addition of 400 
square meters to the space previously allotted the United States in 
Groups VII and X (agriculture and food products) and of 200 square 
meters in Group XI (mines), under certain restrictions tlierein stated. 
I note also with pleasure the favorable disposition of the commissioner- 
general in the matter of large addition of space in the open air for the 
disposition of certain important railway and other transiiortation 
exhibits. 

These concessions and assurances are very gratifying, and I beg that 
you will accept my thanks, and convey them also to the commissioner- 
general, in recognition of the uniform courtesy and consideration which 
have characterized the Exposition authorities in their negotiations with 
the representative of the United States. 

In view of the fact that you are not able at present, as I understand, 
to make definite allotments for the groups of flue arts, horticulture, 
forestry, etc., social economy and hygene, colonization, and Army and 



38 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


Navy, and as some considerable time must elapse before yon can 
approach the subject of these additional allotments, I have the honor to 
advise you that I shall return to the United States, sailing on the 
23d instant. This early departure is made necessary by the require¬ 
ment of Congress that I shall make a report to the President on the 
1st of December next. 

After my departure from Paris and until after you are otherwise 
advised my office in this city will be in charge of the secretary of this 
commissionership. Col. Charles Chaille-Loug, who will forward such 
communications as you may desire to make to me with reference to 
exposition matters. I commend Colonel Chaille-Loug to your courtesy 
and confidence. 

Before leaving, I shall have the honor to wait upon the commissioner- 
general and yourself, and I trust you will pardon me if I embrace that 
opportunity to make a few additional observations on matters yet 
undetermined. 

Accept, dear sir, the assurances of my distinguished consideration. 

Very truly, yours, 


Moses P. Handy, 
Special Commissioner. 


Letter of Commissioner Handy to Manufacturer 

Office of the Special Commissioner of 

THE United States for the Paris 
International Exposition of 1900, 

Chicago, August 20, 1897. 

Dear Sir: The act of Congress entitled “An act making appropria¬ 
tions to supj)ly deficiencies in the appropriations for the fiscal year 
ending June 30, 1897, and for xirior years, and for other ijuriioses,” 
approved July 19, 1897, contains the following x)rovision : 

International Exposition at Paris: That the invitation of the Republic of France 
to take part in the exposition of works of art and the products of manufactures and 
agriculture of all nations, to he held in Paris, commencing the fifteenth day of April 
and closing the fifth day of November, nineteen hundred, is accepted; and the gov¬ 
ernors of the several States and Territories he, and are hereby, requested to invite 
the people of their respective States and Territories to make proper representation 
of the products of our industry and of the natural resources of the country, and to 
take such further measures as may he necessary in order to secure to their respec¬ 
tive States and Territories the advantages to he derived from this beneficent 
undertaking. 

That the President shall appoint a Special Commissioner to represent the United 
States in the proposed Exposition, who shall take all proper measures to provide for 
the representation of the industries and natural resources of the United States by 
their citizens in said Exposition, and shall procure proper space and privileges there¬ 
for, and shall make report to the President, to he submitted to Congress on the 
first day of its next regular session, containing his proceedings hereunder, with such 
recommendations as he may deem proper. 



PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


39 


Pursuant to this law I was appointed Special Commissioner of the 
United States, “to take all proper measures for the representation of 
the industrial and natural resources of the United States by their citi¬ 
zens” at the Paris Exposition in 1900. In the discharge of the duties 
of this commissionership I have opened offices in Chicago and INew 
York, and shall shortly proceed to Paris to secure proper space and 
privileges for the United States exhibit in said Exposition. 

I shall be glad to be advised at your earliest convenience whether 
you propose to make an exhibit in the proposed Exposition, and if so, 
what is the nature of the exhibit and what will be your probable 
requirements in the matter of space. 

Of course specific and conclusive information is not to be expected 
at this early period, and an expression of intention in response to this 
inquiry will not be binding upon you, nor will its filing in my office 
involve any obligation upon the part of the United States Government. 
The purpose is to obtain approximately an idea of the quantity of 
space which should be allotted to the United States, and of the char¬ 
acter and number of probable exhibits. 

Pending the receipt of more direct official information, I have the 
honor to submit for your consideration the accompanying interesting 
report of the plan and scope of the Paris Exposition of 1900, made by 
Mr. Morss, our late consul-general at Paris, to the State Department, 
and published by authority of the Secretary of State. 

Soliciting your careful attention to this matter, and assuring you 
that an early resiionse will be highly appreciated, I have the lionor to be. 
Very truly, yours. 


Moses P. Handy, 

Special Commissioner to Paris Exposition. 


Appendix B. 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE EXPOSITION OF igoo. 

Work upon the grounds and buildings is proceeding rapidly, although 
with great care, and there is no doubt that the buildings will be ready 
and the exhibits will have been installed April 15, 1900, the date set 
for the opening of the Exposition. The site will be practically the 
same as was occupied by the exposition of 1889, the total space being 
336 acres, 96 more than was available for the last exposition. The 
area compared with that of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, 
which occupied all of Jackson Park and the Midway Plaisance, 740 
acres in all, shows the limitations with which the officials have to con¬ 
tend. A larger space might have been had in the suburbs, but the 
municipal council of Paris and the council general of the Seine depart¬ 
ment strongly opposed all proposals to locate any part of the Exposi¬ 
tion outside of the city. A distribution of the buildings among various 



40 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP^ 1900. 


sections of the city was also decided to be impracticable, for it would 
cause serious embarrassment to visitors and necessitate supplementary 
outlays for transportation. In that case the transportation question 
would be a much greater problem than it was at Chicago, for Paris has 
not as great facilities for urban travel as have American cities, and if 
the Exposition were to be scattered or wholly located beyond walking 
distance, the attendance would be seriously diminished. These limita¬ 
tions must be understood to comprehend properly the extremely limited 
space which will be at the disposal of exhibitors. 

The ground which will be occupied includes the public grounds on 
both sides of the Seine from the Place de la Concorde to the suburb 
of Passy. In this area are embraced the Champs des Mars, the Tro- 
cadero Palace and Park, the Esplanade des Invalides, the Quai 
d’Orsay, the Quai de la Conference, theCours la Eeine, and a large sec¬ 
tion of the Champs Elysees, including that part upon which stood the 
Palais de Plndustrie, the principal building of the Exposition of 1855. 
So great has been the pressure for space that 2^ acres of ground have 
been made by filling in along the banks of the Seine. 

The site lends itself readily to decoration, and in its treatment the 
best landscape gardeners of Paris will display their art at its best. 
The gardens and terraces on both sides of the river will be utilized as 
a part of the general scheme of beauty. Spanning the Seine, and con¬ 
necting the two sites ot the Exposition, will be a magnifieent new 
bridge, to be known as the Pont d’Alexander III, and which will cost 
nearly $400,000. This will be one of the architectural triumphs of the 
Exposition, the most imposing and ornamental avenue of approach, 
and it will correspond in a degree to the Court of Honor at the World’s 
Columbian Exposition. The corner stone of this bridge was laid by 
the Czar Nicholas in October, 1895. One of the great caissons has 
been made and sunk into the bottom of the Seine, and work upon the 
second will begin in January, 1898. The river and its banks con¬ 
nected by this bridge are to be made a dream of loveliness. Here will 
be pavilions, where will be received the potentates of the earth who 
are expected to attend and pay tribute to republican France. 

The work of clearing the site and constructing the buildings is pro¬ 
gressing rapidly. The grounds are inclosed by a high board fence, to 
hide the scaffolding, the debris, and the workmen from the public eye. 
Here several magnificent structures are being razed to the ground that 
they may be replaced by others more magnificent. Most of the build¬ 
ings of 1889 have been already destroyed, and little is left of the 
beautiful fountain facing the Eiffel Tower. The machinery hall alone 
will be allowed to stand, and that is to be remodeled in various ways 
so that it will not be recognizable. The old palace of fine arts and that 
of liberal arts are now being razed, and the Palais de I’lndustrie is also 
being sacrificed. 

As yet only the two art palaces have begun to rear their heads, for 
the architectural plans for the other buildings have not been fully 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


41 


matuied. The designs for the buildings are all to be secured by com¬ 
petition, the prizes being awarded by a committee of the Institute of 
Architects acting with the director-general and other officials of the 
Exposition. Among the most imposing buildings will be the two fine 
art palaces now being constructed on the site of the old Palais de 
rindustrie. These are at present popularly spoken of, respectively, as 
the Grand Palais des Beaux-Arts and the Petit Palais des Beaux-Arts. 
They can not fail to be worthy of the exhibits which they will have and 
of the beautiful capital which they will adorn. They are to be perma¬ 
nent structures, and the sum of $4,200,000 will be spent in their con¬ 
struction. The Grand Palais will be the repository of the finest art 
treasures of Prance, and there the salons of coming years will be held. 
In the other the works of foreign artists probably will be displayed 
during the Exposition period. 

To the west of the fine arts buildings, on the north side of the Seine 
and in theCours la Heine, will be located the agricultural and horticul¬ 
tural buildings, while other exhibits of plants and flowers will be made 
in gardens and greenhouses out of doors. It is intended that the build¬ 
ings of the smaller nations shall also be located here. Farther west, 
where the Pont de Jena spans the river and at the Place du Trocadero, 
it is the intention to place the colonial exhibits, both of French and 
foreign dependencies. 

By far the larger number of buildings will be south of the Seine, the 
Champs des Mars being the site of the most important. At the extreme 
south of this plaza will be the structure devoted to agriculture and food 
products. Next to it, going north toward the river, is the site of the 
building for electrical industries, which, it is expected, will be an even 
greater attraction than at previous expositions. General machinery 
and mechanical appliances will be housed to the north, but the palais 
des machines will not be so large proportionately as it has been at 
other expositions, because of the intention of the authorities as far as 
possible to exhibit the machine by the side of its product, thus placing 
machinery even in the liberal arts building, where instruments and 
general processes of science, letters, and arts will be on view. As the 
visitor walks toward the Seine he will find next on his left the build¬ 
ing devoted to chemical industries. On the same side will be that for 
civil engineering and transportation, with textile fabrics on the right. 
Liberal arts will find a home directly north, while next to the great 
Eiffel Tower at the north end of the Champs de Mars will be the place 
for the exhibition of products of the mines and mining machinery. 

Farther east on the Esplanade des Invalides, half a mile away and 
connected by a narrow strip along the banks of the river, will be the 
great building of the Exposition, that of general manufactures. This, it 
is predicted, will be the finest architecturally and most elaborately dec¬ 
orated. On the Hue Fabert north of the manufactures building educa¬ 
tional exhibits will find a home. 


42 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


Directly on tlie banks of the Seine, on the ground that has been 
reclaimed from the river, will be located the army and navy exhibits, a 
special building for marine transportation, and another for products of 
the forest, fisheries, and chase. This last group has been arranged 
with less definiteness than any of the others and is subject to change. 
It is largely on this account that the officials have not yet apportioned 
space for the exhibits of these groups to the United States or any other 
foreign country. 

Aside from the greater exhibition buildings, it is estimated that one- 
tenth of the ground will be covered by special structures of less pre¬ 
tensions. Some of these will house special exhibits, among which it is 
expected that the United States will be represented, but these must be 
the subject of special arrangement. There will also be Government 
buildings erected by foreign nations, but these are intended for the 
most part for the smaller countries of the world whose industries are 
not sufficiently large to be subdivided among the groujis provided for 
by the classification. There are to be no foreign governmental build¬ 
ings like those at Chicago. Governments whose sovereigns have sig¬ 
nified their intention of visiting the Exposition will be assigned space 
on the Qnai d’Orsay for pavilions where those sovereigns may be fit 
tingly housed and appropriately entertained, but these will not be open 
to the public except by invitation and will not be available for exhibit 
purposes. It is the intention to locate these smaller buildings on the 
south bank of the Seine, between the Eiffel tower and the new Pont 
d’Alexandre. hTo governmental or private building is to be erected 
except with the approval of and under the supervision of the superin¬ 
tending architect. Color and brilliancy are courted, but there is to be 
nothing that will mar the general harmony of the whole. Each nation, 
however, will be allowed the greatest possible latitude consistent with 
unity in the general design. 

The Midway Plaisauce of the World’s Columbian Exposition will 
have its counterpart, and the authorities are busying themselves 
devising plans, or passing upon those of individuals, for the amuse¬ 
ment of the crowds who will throng the grounds in 1900. Quaint and 
queer customs of the little known nations are to be shown, making it 
possible for one to see the ends of the earth without journeying that 
distance. A street in Cairo or Bagdad, bigger and better than that at 
the Columbian Exposition, and on different lines, is promised. China 
is to be represented by a village, and the corner of an old Spanish 
town is to be reproduced, showing the habits of the old Moors and 
Andalusians. Siam is to have similar representation. Japan under 
feudal times is to be shown, and one concessionaire proposes to pre¬ 
sent the moon as it would ajipear to a ijerson only 3 feet distant from 
that orb. From present indications the chief feature of this quarter of 
the Exposition grounds will be the “Street of Paris,” which is to be 
reproduced on the Cours la Eeine in accordance with plans prepared 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


43 


by the director of the opera. A century of life in Paris will be 
depicted, showing the changes made during that time in the manners 
and customs of the Parisians. This, it is promised, will be the 
essence of Paris, the “ISTe plus ultra of Parisiana,” as one of the Expo¬ 
sition officials expressed it. Paris itself will be more than ever inter¬ 
esting and captivating to the visitor. 

The city will take advantage of the occasion to spend millions in 
permanent improvements, which will add to the beauty of the munici¬ 
pality. Parks and public gardens are to be laid out and those already 
in existence will be improved. Every part of the city will have its 
oasis of green, while trees and turf are to be scattered liberally, mak¬ 
ing almost a new system of boulevards. Upper St. Phillipe de Koule 
and the St. Marguerite Quarter have already been selected for the 
location of new parks. Uew streets are to be lined with trees, the 
rows of trees in the Champs Elysees will be doubled, and more trees 
will be planted in the Avenue du Bois du Boulogne. All the roads 
leading into the bois are to be newly beautified with terraces covered 
with flowers. The system of electric lighting is to be extended so that 
all of the principal streets and boulevards will be brilliant at night. 
Many new modern hotels are projected, and new theaters will be built. 

Paris will receive permanent benefits from the Exposition, for many 
of the best buildings will be constructed to last for years. One of the 
greatest gains to the city will be the new permanent railway depot on 
the Place des Invalides, which I understand is to be modeled to some 
extent after the terminal station which was a feature so valuable as 
well as ornamental at the Chicago Exposition of 1893. 


Appendix C. 

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS. 

This is the fifth international exposition to be held at Paris, the pre¬ 
vious exhibitions having been in the years 1855, 1867, 1878, and 1889. 
Preparations began before the Exposition of 1889 had hardly terminated, 
and 1900 was fixed upon as a fitting year for celebration, inasmuch as 
it will be the closing year of the nineteenth century, that hundred years 
in which the world has made its greatest progress in science, industry, 
and civilization. The official initiative was taken by M. Eoche, then 
minister of commerce and industry, who, in July, 1892, made a recom¬ 
mendation to President Carnot. A decree was immediately issued by 
the President, on July 13, 1893, announcing, “A universal exposition 
of works of art, and of industrial and agricultural products,” and 
fixing the date as April 15 to November 5, 1900. 

A financial scheme was devised by a temporary commission, and this 
has been subjected to scarcely any change. The estimated cost of the 
Exposition is 106,785,000 francs, or $20,609,505. The city of Paris has 


44 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


appropriated 20,000,000 francs and the nation an equal amount. The 
main source of revenue, 00,000,000 francs, in fact, represents the 
receipts from a popular bond issue of 3,250,000 bonds, of 20 francs 
(13.86) each, underwritten by three of the principal banks. A similar 
system was used in raising the bulk of money needed in 1889, but the 
bonds then were for 25 francs. It has been said that these bonds are 
lottery tickets, but they are not so considered by the French law, 
although they bear striking resemblance thereto. They are redeemable 
by the holders in 20 full-paid admissions, valued at 1 franc each, and in 
addition every holder of a bond will be entitled to demand, before the 
opening of the Exj)osition, one of the two following privileges: A per¬ 
manent reduction of 25 per cent in the charge of admission to all 
places of amusement within the boundaries of the fair, and liberal 
reductions, amounting sometimes to one-third, in the cost of transpor¬ 
tation from distant parts of the country during the Exposition months. 

The resemblance to a lottery is found in the fact that as the bonds bear 
no interest, in lieu thereof the interest is used to form a fund, from 
which 4,313 prizes are being distributed in 29 drawings. Six of these 
drawings occurred in 1896, six during the present year, and six will 
take place in each of the years 1898 and 1899, and five during the 
Exposition itself. 

It is expected that the receipts from the Exposition will be large, and 
should there be a surplus, it will be divided equally between the munic¬ 
ipal and national governments—that is, of Paris and France. 

The money raised is to be expended as follows: Two new palaces 
on the Champs-Elysees, $4,200,000; Champs-de Mars, $2,600,000; Es¬ 
planade des Invalides, $1,000,000; on the Quais, $320,000; on bridges 
and footways across the same, $1,000,000; mechanical and elec¬ 
trical supplies, $1,350,000; belt-line railway, $300,000; fetes and con¬ 
tests, $1,100,000; retrospective exhibitions, $300,000; musical congress, 
$200,000; for workmen who make exhibits, $80,000; expenses of juries 
and medals, $200,000. The total is thus unofficially summarized: Con¬ 
struction, $14,600,000; advertising and entertaining, $2,400,000; man¬ 
agers and their assistants, $1,600,000. The balance is reserved for 
emergencies. 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


45 


Appendix D. 

GENERAL REGULATIONS. 

Tbe p^eneral regulations, as ibrmulated by the commissary-general 
and the consultative commission and approved by the minister of com¬ 
merce, industry, posts, and telegraphs, were promulgated by Presi¬ 
dent Casimir-Perrier August 7, 1894. These regulations comprise 108 
articles, in 12 sections, and all provisions of the same which will affect 
intending American exhibitors are embraced in the summary which 
follows. In most respects the regulations are similar to those of the 
exposition of 1889. A few radical innovations are made, however. 
The regulations are more elaborate and detailed than those of the last 
exposition, the administration having endeavored, so far as possible, 
to cover every detail of the great enterprise which could be anticipated’ 
and leave for subsequent determination only matters of a special, sec¬ 
ondary, or accessory character. 

CONbllTUTIVE ELEMENTS—GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF SERVICES. 

The h/xposition will open April 15 and close November 5, 1900. 

Works of art, agricultural and industrial products, and generaUy 
speaking all the objects comprised in the classification annexed to 
these rules and regulations, will be admitted to the Exposition. 

All nations are invited to participate on equal terms. 

To the contemporary Exposition will be joined a retrospective cen¬ 
tennial Exposition, reviewing the progress accomplished since 1800 in 
the various branches of production. 

All machinery, so far as possible, will be operated on the grounds in 
full view of the public. 

Special expositions (historical, anthropological, and ethnological, 
etc.), special competitions (agricultural implements, live animals, etc.), 
musical performances, and special congresses of various kinds will be 
held in connection with the Exposition. 

Each foreign nation participating in the Exposition will be repre¬ 
sented by a commissioner or delegate, who will have the sole right to 
treat with the commissary-general, the director-general, and the direc¬ 
tors as to all questions which concern his countrymen, aud especially 
those relating to the distribution of space among the different coun¬ 
tries, the erection of buildings, and the admission and installation of 
exhibits. 

Foreign exhibitors must correspond with the commissioners of their 
respective countries, and can not communicate directly with the admin¬ 
istration of the Exposition. This regulation will be imperative, except 
as regards the retrospective centennial Exposition. (This latter will 
be absolutely distinct from the foreign sectionsof thecontemporary Expo¬ 
sition, and the administration may treat directly with foreigners pos¬ 
sessing objects desired for the collections of the history of labor for 
the century.) 


46 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


CLASSIFICATION OF EXHIBITS.^ 

The vexed question of classification has been profoundly studied in 
all its aspects by M. Picard, the accomplished commissary-general, and 
by the superior commission. The difficulties—in fact the utter impossi¬ 
bility—of devising a scheme of classification absolutely logical and 
entirely free from practical disadvantages were fully recognized. The 
commission examined with great care the classifications of all the 
international expositions of the past, both in France and other coun¬ 
tries, and considered fully the various criticisms to which they have 
been subjected in the light of the actual results achieved. The report 
of the commissary-general upon this subject is an able and compre¬ 
hensive paper, in which the various theories of classification are 
impartially discussed and the advantages and disadvantages of each 
fully set forth. Of the classification at the Philadelphia Exposition of 
1876, it is said that “while it was inspired by a lively appreciation of 
that which constitutes the value of man and the grandeur of the peo¬ 
ples, it would have been improved had it been less heterogeneous.” Of 
the classification at the Chicago World’s Fair it is said: “JSTotwith- 
standing its real merits, it can not be considered a model to imitate. 
It erred notably in the minute subdivision of the classes.” 

For the classification at the approaching Exposition, that of 1889 is 
taken as a point of departure, and such modifications have been made 
as were suggested by the legitimate criticisms of which it was the 
object, and by the lessons taught by foreign expositions. 

The post of honor is occupied by education, “the channel by which 
man enters into life, the source of all progress.” Next come the works 
of art, and the third place is assigned to the iustruments and general 
processes of letters, science, and arts. Then come “the great factors 
of contemporary production, the most powerful agents of industrial 
achievement at the end of the nineteenth century”—the material and 
general processes of mechanics, electricity, civil engineering, methods 
of transportation. Next follow the exploitation and the products, 
superficial or subterranean, of the earth: Agriculture, horticulture, 
forestry, the chase, fisheries, placer mining, food stuffs, mines, and 
metallurgy. Next in order are the decoration and furnishing of public 
buildings and habitations, threads, yarns, tissues, textile fabrics, wear¬ 
ing apparel, chemical industries, various manufactures. “ Social econ¬ 
omy, to which have been reserved the developments worthy of its 
actual role, follows naturally the various branches of artistic, agricul¬ 
tural, and industrial production.” It will embrace also hygiene and 
public or organized charity. 

A new group has been created for the “moral and material work of 
colonization,” and the series closes with the military and naval group. 

‘Having carefully revised and compared it with the original documents, I make 
free use of the admirable translation and synopsis of the regulations made by Hon. 
S. E. Morss, late consul-general of the United States at Paris, and transmitted by 
him to the State Department.—M. P. H. 





PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 47 

Ill all, there will be 18 groups and 120 sections, as compared with 
12 groups and nearly 1,000 sections at Chicago. 

An interesting innovation has been introduced in the classes of 
decorative arts, each of which will comprise two sections—one for the 
authors of designs, cartoons, sketches, etc., the other for the manufac¬ 
turers. Each section will receive distinct awards, so that the artists 
will be recognized as exhibitors and not as collaborators. 

In all departments of the Exposition, so far as practicable, materials 
and processes will be found in contact with products. All machinery 
will be operated under the eye of the public, so that visitors may famil¬ 
iarize themselves with its practical workings and follow the successive 
transformations of the crude material until it assumes the form of the 
finished article. Exhibitors will not be required, however, to expose 
methods and processes of fabrication an important element of whose 
value is their secrecy. 

In so far as compatible with the vast extent of the Exposition grounds 
and the necessary dispersion of the exhibits among several main halls 
and the pavilions of different countries and of important exhibitors, the 
arrangement of the Exposition will be such that all the products of a 
single country will be brought into juxtaposition, as well as those of 
different countries pertaining to one class of industry. Thus, in pro¬ 
ceeding in one direction the visitor may review successively the various 
exhibits of the United States or any other nation; proceeding in another 
direction he may examine successively all the exhibits from the different 
countries of one general class, such as agriculture, electricity, etc. But 
where it is not practicable, in arranging the Exposition, to consider 
both the nature of the products and their place of origin, the grouping 
will follow the nature, the destination, and utility of the objects rather 
than the country of production. Under this plan the different varieties 
of machinery will not be gathered together but will be dispersed through 
the buildings and grounds. “If,” says the commissary-general, “the 
visitors are deprived of the imposing spectacle which was afforded by 
the immense accumulations in the old gallery of machines,- if the grand 
effect of mass and multiplicity due to such concentration is lost to them, 
they will no longer pass by engines and apparatus without suspecting 
their jiurpose or their manner of operation the confusion of their minds 
will be dissipated; they will comprehend and will be instructed, which 
is the chief object of these periodical assizes of industry.” 

The following shows the classification adopted, by groups and classes: 

Group No. 1 .—Education and instruction. 

(1) Infant, primary, and adult education. 

(2) Secondary instruction. 

(3) Superior education, scientific instruments. 

(4) Special artistic education. 

( 5 ) Special agricultural training. 

(6) Industrial and commercial education. 


48 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


Group No. 2.— Works of art. 

(7) Paintings, cartoons, designs. 

(8) Engraving, lithography. 

(9) Sculptirre, medal and gem engraving. 

(10) Architecture. 

Group No. 3.— Instruments and general irroeesscs of letters, sciences, and arts. 

(11) Typography, printing in general. 

(12) Photography in two categories, viz, professional and amateur. 

(13) Books, musical editions, bookbinding, posters, newspapers. 

(14) Maps, instruments of geography and cosmography, topography. 

(15) Instruments of precision, coins, medals. 

(16) Medicine, surgery. 

(17) Musical instruments. 

(18) Theatrical plants, materials, and accessories. 

Group No. 4.— Materials and general processes of mechanics. 

(19) Steam engines. 

(20) Engines using other motive power (except electricity). 

(21) General mechanical apparatus. 

(22) Tools and implements of manufacturing. 

Group No. 5.— Electricity. 

(23) Production and mechanical utilization of electricity. 

(24) Chemical electricity. 

(25) Electric lighting. 

(26) Telegraphy and telephones. 

(27) Different applications of electricity. 

Group No. 6. —Civil engineering and transportation. 

(28) Materials and processes of civil engineering. 

(29) Models, plans, and designs of public works. 

(30) Coach and cart building. 

(31) Saddles and harness. 

(32) Railway and tramway construction. 

(33) Shipbuilding. 

(34) Aerostation. 

Group No. 7.— Agriculture. 

(35) Agricultural materials and processes. 

(36) Viticulture. 

(37) Agricultural industries. 

(38) Agriculture, science, husbandry statistics. 

(39) Alimentary agricultural products of vegetable origin. 

(40) Alimentary agricultural products of animal origin. 

(41) Nonedible agricirltural products of animal origin. 

(42) Useful insects and their products, hurtful insects, and vegetable parasites. 

Group No. 8. —Horiiculture and aioriculture. 

(43) Materials and processes of horticulture and aboriculture. 

(44) Kitchen-garden plants. 

(45) Fruit trees, fruits. 

(46) Trees, shrubs, plants, ornamental flowers. 

(47) Conservatory plants. 

(48) Horticultural and nursery seeds and slips. 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


49 


Group No. 9,— Forestry, the chase, fisheries, cueillettes. 

(49) Materials and processes of forestry. 

(50) Forestry products. 

(51) Sporting arms. 

(52) Products of the chase. 

(53) Fishing tackle and products, pisciculture. 

(54) Wild or noncultivated vegetable jiroducts, iunilemeuts used in gathering the 
same. 

Group No. 10.—Food stuffs. 

(55) Materials and processes of alimentary industries. 

(5b) FarinaceoiTs products and their derivatives. 

(57) Bread and pastry. 

(58) Preserved meats, fish, vegetables, and fruits. 

(59) Sugar, confectionery, condiments, stimulants. 

(60) Wines, spirits. 

(61) Miscellaneous beverages. 

Group No. 11.— Mines and metallurgy. 

(62) Materials and processes and products of mines, ores, and quarries. 

(63) Materials and processes and products of large metallurgy. 

(64) Materials and processes of small metallurgy. 

Group No. 12.—Decoration and furniture of puhlic huildings and Jiahitations. 

(65) Fixed ornamentation of public edifices and of dwelling houses. 

(60) Stained glass. 

(67) Wall paper. 

(68) Low-grade and high-grade furniture. 

(69) Carpets, tapestries, and other upholstery fabrics. 

(70) Temporary decorations and upholstery products. 

(71) Pottery. 

(72) Crystal and glass ware. 

(73) Heating and ventilating systems and apparatus. 

(74) Lighting apparatus other than electric. 

Group No. 13.— Threads, yarns, textile fabrics, tvearing apparel. 

(75) Plants, materials, and processes of spinning and rope making. 

(76) Plants, materials, and processes of weaving. 

(77) Bleaching, dyeing, printing, and finishing of textiles, plants, materials, and 
processes. 

(78) Materials and processes of needlework, and the making of wearing apparel. 

(79) Cotton threads and fabrics. 

(80) Linen, hemp, etc., threads and tissues, rope products. 

(81) Woolen yarns and tissues. 

(82) Raw and manufactured silks. 

(83) Laces, embroideries, and trimmings. 

(84) Ready-made apparel for men, women, and children. 

(85) Miscellaneous attire. 

Group No. 14. —Chemical industries. 

(86) Chemical and pharmaceutical arts. 

(87) Paiier making. ' 

(88) Hides and skins and leather. 

(89) Perfumery. 

(90) Tobacco .and match manufactures. 

S. Doc. 4——4 


50 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


Group No. 15.— General mannfactures. 

(91) Stationery. 

(92) Cutlery. * 

(93) Gold and silver ware. 

(94) Jewelry. 

(95) Clocks, watches, and other timekeepers. 

(96) Bronze, cast iron, and forged iron, embossed met.als. 

(97) Brushes, notions, basket work. 

(98) Rubber products, traveling and camping articles. 

(99) Toys and games. 

Group No. 16.— Social economy, hygiene, organized charity. 

(100) Apprenticeship, protection of child labor. 

(101) Wages, profit sharing. 

(102) Wholesale and retail industries, cooperative associations of production and 
credit. 

(103) Cultivation of large and small farms, agricultural syndicates and banks. 

(104) Safety of workshops, labor regulations. 

(105) Workmen’s dwellings. 

(106) Cooperative stores. 

(107) Institutions for the intellectual and moral development of workmen. 

(108) Savings banks, friendly societies. 

(109) Public and private efforts for improving the condition of the people. 

(110) Hygiene. 

(111) Public relief. 

Group No. 17.— Colonization. 

(112) Modes of colonization. 

(113) Colonial plants and materials. 

1114) Special merchandise for exportation to colonies. 

Group No. 18.— Military and naval. 

(115) Artillery armaments and plants. 

(116) Military engineering. 

(117) Naval engineering, hydraulics, torpedoes. 

(118) Maps, hydrography, sundry instruments. 

(119) Military and naval equipment and administration. 

(120) Hygiene and sanitary materials and services. 


Appendix E. 

ADMISSION OF EXHIBITS. 

Works of art .—The contemporary Exposition will be open to the works 
of French and foreign artists executed since the 1st of May, 1889. 

Copies (even those representing a work in a different class from that 
of the original), paintings, designs, or engravings unframed, engrav¬ 
ings obtained by industrial processes, and sculptures in clay will not 
be admitted. 

Applications for admission will differ according to the class to which 
the proposed exhibit appertains, and must conform to the models to be 
prescribed by the commissary-general. They will contain a designa¬ 
tion of the work, giving its dimensions, and mentioning the expositions 




View of the BANKS OF THE SEINE, taken from the Pont des Invalides. 





















PAEIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


51 

at wbicli it lias been exhibited. Printed forms of application will be 
furnished gratuitously. No artist will be permitted to exhibit more 
than ten works. Artists of France and French colonies must file their 
applications between the 16th and 31st of May, 1899. 

Applications for the admission of the works of foreign artists must 
be made through the commissioner or delegate of the country of wliich 
the aiiplicant is a citizen. They must receive the approval of the min¬ 
ister of beaux arts not later than December 31, 1899, and will then be 
definitely acted upon by the commissary-general. The commissary- 
general will transmit the proper certificate to all artists whose works 
have been admitted. 

The latter must furnish, not later than February 15, 1900, a state¬ 
ment giving his full name, date and place of birth, names of his mas¬ 
ters, mentions of his recompenses at Paris expositions, subject and 
dimensions of his works, and names of their owners. Printed forms 
for this statement will be supplied. 

One or several special commissions will be created to prepare the 
Centennial Exposition. The commissary-general Avill decree, upon the 
recommendations of these commissions, a list of the works admitted to 
such Exposition, and will cause certificate of admission to be delivered 
to the proper persons. 

Industrial, agricultural, and miscellaneous objects .—All industrial and 
agricultural products will be admitted to the contemporary Exposition 
except (1) those of an explosive and fulminant character; (2) primings, 
fireworks, matches, and analogous articles, except in a state of imita¬ 
tion and containing no inflammable material; (3) spirits, alcohols, 
essences, oils, corrosive matters, and all fluids and substances of an 
unwholesome or oflensive character or which can alter or injure other 
exhibits, unless the same are inclosed in solid vessels, appropriate in 
form and of small dimensions. 

Applications for admissions of all products must be made on printed 
forms, which will be supplied gratuitously by the commissary-general. 

Applicants requiring gas, steam, or water, will state in their appli¬ 
cations the quantity needed. Those desiring to operate machinery 
will state the speed at which the same will be worked, and the kind 
and quantity of motive power required. 

The admission offoreign products willbe authorized by the commissary- 
general upon the propositions of the commissioners of the various coun¬ 
tries, which must be filed on or before February 15, 1899, and for all 
articles which for special reasons are'to be exhibited in a class section 
on or before February 1, 1899. 

The committees of admission, each for its class, will prepare the 
organization of the Centennial Exposition, and the director-general 
of the Exposition will decree the list of objects accepted, and deliver 
certificates of admission. 


52 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


Appendix F. 

SHIPMENT, RECEPTION, INSTALLATION, AND EESHIPMENT OF i 

EXHIBITS. 

WORKS OF ART. 

All works of art must be deposited at the flue arts building between 
February 15 and 20, 1900, under arrangements to be prescribed by the 
commissary-general. 

All expenses of packing, unpacking, repacking, transportation to 
and from Exiiosition grounds, and storage and preservation of cases 
will be at the charge of exhibitors, so far as the contemporary Exposi¬ 
tion is concerned, but such expenses as to the Centennial Exposition 
may be assumed by the administration of beaux arts. 

All expenses of installation of exhibits, decoration of the halls and 
interior, guardianshii) of flne-arts hall, etc., will be assumed by the 
administration of beaux arts, save as to special arrangements made at 
the instance of the commissioners of foreign countries, which will be 
at their charge. 

No work admitted can be removed before the close of the Exposition, 
whether it shall have been sold or not, except under special permit 
issued by the commissary-general at the instance of the director of 
beaux arts. 

All works exhibited must be removed within one month after the 
close of the exhibition. 

INDUSTRIAL, AGRICULTURAL, AND MISCELLANEOUS EXHI15ITS. 

All objects admitted will be introduced into the Exposition before 
December 1, 1899, and February 28, 1900, according to the regulations 
to be prescribed by the commissary-general. Due notice will be given 
of special tariffs made to exhibitors by railroad, steamboat, or other 
transportation companies. 

No charge will be made to exhibitors for space, water, gas, steam, or 
other motive power required by them, but connections with main gas, 
water, or steam pipes, counter and auxiliary shafting, etc., will be pro¬ 
vided by exhibitors. 

All expenses of packing, unpacking, repacking, installation, storage, 
preservation of cases and transportation to and from the grounds must 
be borne by exhibitors in the contemporary Exposition. The expenses 
of installation will include the establishment of special passageways, 
the construction of all special partitions, ceilings, windows, platforms, 
railings, flxtures, etc., all of which must conform to the plans adopted 
by the Exposition management. 

As to certain of these constructions, the administration reserves the 
right to execute them in whole or in part at the expense of the com¬ 
missioner of the department or of the country to which they appertain. ' 




PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 53 

All or a part of such expenses in connection with the Centennial 
Exposition may be assumed by the administration. 

Workmen exhibiting on their own account in the contemporary Expo¬ 
sition will be relieved of all ex^iense on account of installation. 

No special construction within the Exposition grounds will be author¬ 
ized until the plans of the same, embracing also the approaches and 
the interior arrangements, have been approved by the management. 

A committee of installation will be created for each class of groups, 
works of art excepted, which will apportion the space among the exhib¬ 
itors, prepare and submit to the administration plans of installation 
and decoration, supervise the execution of the same, provide for main¬ 
tenance and guarding, and assess expenses upon exhibitors and collect 
the same. 

The commissioners of foreign countries will make their own installa¬ 
tions in the positions erected by them and in the parts of the general 
building assigned to them, all plans for the same to be submitted for 
approval to the administration. 

All exhibits, without exception, must be made in the name of the 
person, firm, or company signing the application for tbe same, but the 
names of persons of every grade who may have contributed in any way 
to the preparation of the exhibit may be added. 

All exhibitors in the contemporary sections are expressly invited to 
mark their exhibits with the market prices of the same, but this is not 
compulsory. 

All exhibitors of dangerous, insalubrious, or objectionable articles of 
any kind must conform strictly to the conditions prescribed for such 
exhibit, and all such articles must be removed at any time when 
required by the administration. 

No exhibit can be removed before the close of the Eximsition without 
a special permit, except those iiroduced on the grounds under special 
authorization. 

All exhibits, installations, and special constructions of every kind 
must be removed, at the latest, six weeks after the close of the Exposi¬ 
tion, at which time the management will remove the same at the charge 
of the exhibitors. 

The materials will be placed in a public warehouse, and if the charges 
are not paid by June 30,1901, the same will be sold, and the net profits 
turned over to the assistance publique, or poor fund, of the State. 

Eegulations as to tariff duties, indirect taxes, and octroi, or 

REGULATIONS AS TO TARIFF DUTIES, INDIRECT TAXES, AND OCTROI, OR MUNICIPAL 

DUTIES ON EXHIBITS. 

The provisions under this head are very liberal as regards foreign 
exhibitors. 

The Exposition grounds are constituted a bonded warehouse. For¬ 
eign exhibits may enter France through any custom-house. They should 


54 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


be accompanied by a bulletin from the shipper, attached to the bill (tf 
lading, and indicating their nature, class, weight, and place of origin/ 

They will be transported directly to the Exposition grounds under 
the conditions of international or domestic transit, at the choice of the 
shipper. They will be exempt from statistical dues and from inspection 
at the frontier. Seals will be affixed without charge. 

All foreign products will be taken in charge at the Exiiositiou 
grounds by the special customs agents and, if finally entered for con¬ 
sumption, will be subject only, whatever their origin, to the duties 
imposed upon like products from the most favored nation. 

Articles manufactured on the grounds from imported materials will 
be subject only to the duties to which such materials from the most 
favored nation are liable. 

The manufacture of tobaccos by machines and apparatus exhibited 
will be authorized on the express condition that the goods so jiroduced 
shall be subject to all the duties and excises prescribed by law. 

No foreign goods will be subject to indirect taxes or municipal dues 
(octroi) unless entered for consumption. 

PROTECTION OP EXHIBITS. 

No work of art or exhibit of any kind can be copied or reproduced 
except by a special permit of the exhibitor, approved by the adminis¬ 
tration. 

The taking of general photographs, however, will be authorized. 

Inventions susceptible of being patented, plans and specifications of 
machinery, etc., will bo fully protected. 

The administration expressly disclaims all responsibility for damages 
to exhibits in the contemporary sections by fire or otherwise, although 
every precaution will be taken for their protection. 

The administration will, however, be responsible for losses or dam¬ 
ages in the retrospective sections, but only to the amounts agreed 
upon in advance with exhibitors and stated in their certificates of 
admission. 

The administration will provide a corps of guardians for the general 
surveillance of the buildings and grounds, but the commissioners of 
foreign countries will be required to provide guards for their pavilions 
and for their space in the main buildings. These guardians will have 
to be named subject to the approval of the administration, which may, 
at the time, demand their revocation or dismiss them outright in case 
of drunkenness on duty or of detection in dishonesty. 

They must be uniformed, must clean the buildings or sections to 
which they are attached, and must conform to and enforce all police 
regulations. 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


55 


'S Appendix G. ' 

jjl recompenses, diplomas, etc. 

All works and products exhibited will be passed upon, as in 1889, 
by an international bureau, which will have three degrees of jurisdic- 
tion—juries of class, juries of group, superior jury. 

The juries of class will be composed of full members and substitutes. 
The number of full jurors, French and foreign, will, as nearly as prac- 
; ticable, equal one-sixtieth of the whole number of exhibitors, and there 
-will be one-third as many substitutes as full jurors. 

In the several classes the number of full jurors will be, as nearly as 
may be, proportional to the number of exhibitors and the importance 
of the exhibits. 

The French jurors will be chosen in part from the higher grades of 
public service, learned bodies, and educational institutions, and will 
consist, for the most part, of those who have received, either as exhib¬ 
itors or as jurors named by the French Government, high recompenses 
at the international expositions of Paris, London, Vienna, Philadel¬ 
phia, Sydney, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Brussels, 
or Chicago. 

Foreign jurors will be named by the commissioners of the respective 
countries, and their appointments must be signified to the commissary- 
general before the opening of the Exposition. 

Excepting for the group of works of art, the juries of class will have 
the right to call, for consultation onl}’, either as exjjerts or associates, 
persons of special competence on any other matter submitted for their 
judgment. 

Each jury of class will elect its own officers, but the president and 
vice-president must be of difi'erent nationality, the one a Frenchman, 
the other a foreigner. 

The juries of group will consist of the presidents, vice-presidents, 
and rapporteurs of the juries of class, and of a president, two or three 
vice-presidents, and a secretary, who may be chosen outside of the 
juries of class. 

The full composition of the superior jury is yet undetermined. 

Among the members ex officio will be the commissioner of every 
country represented in the official catalogue by the names of more 
than 500 exhibitors. 

The work of the international jury will be under the supervision of 
the commissary-general and the director-general. 

Each jury class will proceed to the examination of objects exhibited, 
and will prepare (1) a list of exhibitors hors concours (those who can 
not compete for recompenses as hereafter mentioned) j (2) a list, by 
order of merit without distinction of nationality, of recompenses pro¬ 
posed to be bestowed upon exhibitors; (3) a similar list to the preced¬ 
ing for the collaborators, engineers, foremen, and workmen who may 



56 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


have distinguished themselves particularly in the production ok 
remarkable works figuring at the Exposition. y 

For art industries, the list of exhibitors to be recompensed will be- 
divided into two sections—one devoted to the authors of designs, car¬ 
toons, sketches, etc., the other to the manufacturers. 

Two sections will also be devoted to the materials or processes of 
production and to the products, when these elements are found united 
in the same class. These lists, properly certified, will be submitted to I 
the commissary-general not later than June 30, failing in which, they, 
will be made by the jury of group. 

The lists prepared by the juries of class, in the manner above indi¬ 
cated, will be revised by the juries of group, with a view to assuring 
unity and harmony in the distribution of awards. The revised lists 
will be submitted to the superior jury not later than July 31, 1900. 

The superior jury will make the final revision of the lists by oraer of 
merit, and the distribution of awards will be made on or about Sep¬ 
tember 1, 1900. 

For the contemporary expositions and competitions in the groups of 
agriculture, horticulture, and food stuffs the operation of the interna¬ 
tional jury will continue throughout the Exposition. 

The juries of class will prepare the lists of awards at the end of each 
contemporary exposition or contest, and these lists will be finally ! 
revised by the juries of group at the conclusion of the series of such 
exj)ositions. 

All the deliberations of the international jury will be rigorously 
secret. 

Each of the reporters of the class juries will, within six months after 
the close of the Exposition, present to the commissary-general a report 
setting forth the principal facts established by the jury, describing the 
progress achieved since 1889 and reflecting the general condition exist¬ 
ing at the close of the nineteenth century. 

These reports will be published by the Government, together with an 
official list of the awards. 

Only diplomas will be granted as recompenses. They will be thus 
classified: Grand prize diplomas, gold medal diplomas, silver medal 
diplomas, bronze medal diplomas, honorable mention diplomas. 

No exhibitor acting as a juror and no firm or company represented 
on a jnry by any member, stockholder, agent, or employee will be eli¬ 
gible to an award. 

Persons exhibiting in several classes may receive awards in each 
class, but no one shall receive more than one award’in a single class. 

Exhibitors sharing jointly a show case or other space may compete 
for awards if their exhibits are s'rictly individual. 

Only one award can be made for a collective exhibit, but every person 
Tuterested may receive a diploma bearing the names of all participating 
exhibitors. Commemorative diplomas may be awarded to all persons 
who have cooperated effectively in tlie retrospective exposition. 




PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


57 


ji ADMISSIONS. 

I The regular price for the afternoon will be 1 franc (19.3 cents). 

, For mornings, afternoons, and special days, the admission price may 
|be increased. 

Season and monthly tickets will be offered at a reduction. 

Each exhibitor in the contemporary exposition will be given a com¬ 
plimentary season ticket, and the necessary employees of his exhibit 
will also receive complimentary admissions. 

CONCESSIONS. 

! Concessions and privileges for entertainments, refreshment booths, 
etc., will be granted by the minister of commerce, industry, posts, and 
telegraphs, upon the recommendation of the commissary-general. 

All privileges for pecuniary benefit must pay a royalty or percentage 
of receipts to the Exposition. 

No advertisements, catalogues, or prospectuses can be circulated in 
the Exposition grounds except under special license, for which a suit¬ 
able fee will be charged. 

CATALOGUES. 

A general catalogue will be prepared in the French language, nam¬ 
ing the works and productions of all nations on exhibition, wdth the 
names of exhibitors and the location of exhibits in the buildings or 
grounds. 

Each country will have the right to publish in French as well as in 
its own language, at its own cost, risk, and peril, special catalogues for 
its buildings and sections, which, however, must contain no objection¬ 
able advertisements or other matter. 

The sale of these catalogues on the Exposition grounds will be regu¬ 
lated by the administration, and will be subject to the payment of a 
royalty. 


Appendix H. 

DEPARTMENTAL MEMORANDA. 

EDUCATION. 

The authorities in charge of the Exposition of 1900 propose that the 
educational exhibit shall far surpass all similar attempts thus far made. 
It is especially desirable that in this field the United States shall not 
be behind other nations. 

We have made in this country valuable original contributions both 
in theory and practice in the sphere of education. We have taken the 
best in foreign nations as our ideal in those departments in which we 
have not actually stood in the van. Our exhibit should show our 
achievements in both respects. It should set forth the progress and 
the present condition of our educational system. 






58 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


The best things in an educational system elude, of course, an ad4^ 
quate external expression. The spirit of the system, its intellectual' 
and moral results, as displayed in the life of a nation, are not reprei 
sented by the fine buildings, excellent equipment, or even by the actual 
material products themselves, such as exercise books, copy books, speci¬ 
mens of work in iron and wood, etc. At the same time, the external 
things in education are, taken together, a symbol of the life within a 
nation, and one which gives liberal support to its schools, erects fine 
schoolhouses, equips good laboratories, and pays adequate salaries to 
its teachers is more likely to have a good educational system than one 
which does none of these things. The relative standing of a nation in 
this respect can therefore be shown to a certain extent by its educational 
exhibit, and the generous rivalries shown in these exhibits may be 
transferred to the more important and subtler elements of the educa¬ 
tional systems themselves. 

The history of American education is an interesting chapter, and can 
be set forth in an educational exhibit in such a way as to be a perma¬ 
nent contribution to our knowledge of educational science and art. 

An adequate provision should be made, not only for preparing and 
installing a suitable exhibit, but for securing an adequate report upon 
what will undoubtedly be the greatest series of educational exhibits 
thus far prepared. We should endeavor to set forth our educational 
system, public and private, elementary, secondary and higher, special, 
professional, and technical, in its historical development and present 
condition. 


[Letter from TJniteil States Commissioner of Education, William T. Harris, in relation to education 
at the Paris Exposition of 1900.] 

Department of the Interior, 

Bureau of Education, 
Washington, D. G., September -I, 1897. 

Hon. Moses P. Handy, 

Special Commissioner of the United States for the 

Paris International Exposition of 1900, Chicago, 111. 

My Dear Sir : In reply to your letter of August 30, regarding the 
amount of space required for the school exhibit of the United States 
at Paris in the year 1900,1 have the honor to say that I should name as 
the amount of space desirable and reasonable 25,000 square feet. The 
amount granted to the German nation for education at the Columbian 
Exposition was about 24,000 feet. The French nation, I think, had the 
same or a greater amount, other countries in proportion. If I am cor¬ 
rectly informed, at Chicago the home exhibit of education for the 
United States occupied about 170,000 square feet for the elementary 
schools and State systems, and something like 100,000 for higher edu¬ 
cation, private schools, and other educational institutions. The Exjio- 
sition at Chicago, as well as other expositions held since 1870, have 



PAEIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


59 


fthown that European nations are in earnest in the matter of the peo¬ 
ple s education, and that they give larger and larger portions of space 
for the exhibit of the methods, appliances, and results of their school 
systems. The French people have expressed in one way and another 
an interest to see what this country is doing in its schools. IJnfor- 
tunately, at the last exhibition in Paris, in 1889, there was next to 
nothing done in the way of an exhibit of American education—a small 
alcove with a very few books, and most of them from this Bureau, no 
preparation having been made by the National Giovernment for the 
exhibit of education, and none of the city systems and State systems 
enlisted in the work of preparing an exhibit. The French exhibit of edu¬ 
cation was nearly as large at that exposition as the American exhibit 
of education was four years later at Chicago. 

As we have a right to form our estimate for s])ace on the amount of 
space actually granted to nations of the first class in the Columbian 
Exposition, I say, therefore, 25,000 square feet. But France, Sweden, 
and some other countries had national buildings on the grounds and 
took up large additional space in these buildings to show the methods, 
appliances, and results of their school systems. 

It would seem to me that while it is very important for the United 
States to show the condition of its city systems and State systems of 
schools, that it is still more important, at this time, to show the condi¬ 
tion of its higher education. For the first time this was made a special 
object in the Exposition at Chicago, nearly or quite half as much space 
being given to showing the condition and results of the 450 colleges 
and universities of the United States as to the elementary and second¬ 
ary education. The exhibits of Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton 
Universities formed a very striking feature, and, on the whole, the 
presentation of the higher education of the United States was such as 
to gratify the patriotic citizen. I should say that it is important to lay 
great stress on the exhibition of our higher education at Paris in 1900, 
esjiecially because our higher education is little understood in Euroiie. 
If 10,000 square feet should be given to this and 15,000 square feet 
to the elementary, secondary, and special schools, the arrangement, I 
think, would be satisfactory. 

The best exhibit of American education thus far, made in a compact 
form, was prepared by this Bureau for the Cotton Centennial, held at 
New Orleans in 1885. It occupied 30,000 feet of floor space, and 
included the State and city systems, excluding mostly the higher edu¬ 
cation of private and parochial schools, but including the schools of 
the Catholic Church, which formed a noticeable group in the exhibit. 

With respect to your inquiry as to the best means of collecting these 
exhibits, I would suggest two procedures. This Bureau can be of great 
assistance to the commissioner appointed to take charge of the entire 
American exhibit by correspondence with the authorities at the head 
of State and city systems of schools, also with the institutions of 


60 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


higher and professional instruction, nearly five hundred in number. In 
order to secure the prominence of the exhibit for higher education, 
mentioned above, I should say that there ought to be a committee 
appointed from the presidents or jirofessors of colleges to take the 
direction of the exhibit of higher education, a similar committee of 
State superintendents and superintendents of cities, to take charge of 
the exhibit of city and State systems. A representation should be 
given to private secondary schools and the schools of the Catholic 
Church in higher, secondary, and elementary instruction; likewise the 
artistic, industrial, and commercial training should be made a specialty, 
as required in the official classification contained in Consul-General 
Morss’s report. 

This Bureau has had much experience in the preparation and install¬ 
ment of exhibits, and will willingly undertake the work of correspond¬ 
ence with the parties interested; but perhaps the commissioner in 
charge of the whole exhibit will prefer to correspond directly with the 
States and cities and special institutions that are to contribute. In 
that case I think he would do well to take the same course that this 
Bureau would, namely, procure the appointment by the institutions 
themselves of committees to represent, first, the higher education; sec¬ 
ond, the State and city systems; third, the special and denominational 
schools. 

Very respectfully, W. T. Harris, Commissioner. 

FINE ARTS. 

There will be two distinct palaces where examples of the fine arts 
will be shown. The demolition of the Palais de IMndustrie has made 
it possible to open a broad avenue leading from the Champs Elysees 
across the bridge of Alexander III to the Esplanade des Invalides. 
On either side of this new and magnificent boulevard will be erected 
the art palaces, greater and less, both permanent edifices. In one, 
the greater, will be installed a retrospective and contemporaneous 
exhibit of French art which will remain in place after the Exposition 
as a permanent exhibition of French art. Opposite, in a beautiful 
building, but of less magnificent proportions, will be shown tlie work 
of foreign artists. As the plans for the hanging space have not been 
approved by the Exposition authorities, no disposition of the space 
between the several foreign nations has yet been attempted, 

[Letter from Halsey C. Ives, chief of the department of fine arts at the World’s Columbian Exposi¬ 
tion, in relation to tine arts at the Paris Exposition of 1900.] 

Director’s Office, Museum of Fine Arts, 

8t. Louis, September 14,1897. 

Maj. Moses P. Handy, 

Special Commissioner to the Paris Exposition of 1900. 

My Dear Handy : Your letter of August 30, asking me to advise 
you as to the amount of space you should apply for in order to properly 



PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


61 


provide for the American art department at the Paris Exposition in 
1900, came to my office at a time when I was absent, hence this delayed 
reply. 

I am greatly interested in the prospective American art section at the 
1900 show. We ought to have 20,000 square feet of wall space in order 
to properly display our paintings, reckoning the amount at a height not 
to exceed 4 meters above the floor. This would give us hanging space 
for paintings (oil and water color), engravings, woodcuts (steel and cop¬ 
per plates), etchings, dry point (black and white, guash, line wash, etc.), 
architectural drawings in various media. 

There should, in addition to this, be not less than 1,G00 square feet of 
floor space for the exhibition of sculptures. This should be apart or 
in excess of the floor space in the galleries assigned for the display of 
paintings. 

The French authorities certainly ought to give us superior advan¬ 
tages. If the people who had to do with the Chicago work are in any 
way connected with the 1900 show, they certainly ought to accord us, 
in the art department, whatever we ask. If you learn who is to be in 
charge of the art department, kindly let me know at once. It is pos¬ 
sible that I may be able to help put you in the way not only of the 
proper amount of space, but good location as well. 

Sincerely, yours, Halsey C. Ives. 

AGRICULTURE. 

The great importance of the agricultural interests of the United 
States and our preeminence in the manufacture of agricultural imple¬ 
ments have not been overlooked. As will be seen by the correspond¬ 
ence accompanying this report, the amount of space first allotted this 
department was considerably increased on representations made by 
the special commissioner of the United States. It is now understood 
that a special pavilion or like structure can be built by the United 
States adjoining the great building devoted to agriculture and food 
products. In such a building harvesting machinery may be displayed 
to great advantage, and upon representations made by the special 
commissioner the Exposition authorities are arranging for competitive 
field trials, which I am sure will be gratifying to the public, as well as 
profitable to our manufacturers in this branch of industry. 

MINES AND MINING. 

My estimate for space in mines and mining was based upon high 
expert authority in the United States; but the same authority, after 
reconsidering the subject, assures me that the United States can make 
a representative exhibit in the area allotted to this country. 

It may be said that there are two distinct mining exhibits. The space 
shown on the ground jdan of the Exposition is for the display of mineral 
specimens and machines for the separation of ore. In other words, that 



PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


62 

part of the mining industry above ground. The hill upon which the' 
Trocadero Palace is built, and for a considerable distance on each side 
and to the rear of the building, has been excavated, as there the old quar¬ 
ries of Paris were located. The buildings on that hill are supported on 
heavy masonry piling. There is a large amount of underground space 
now available. I^ew galleries will be constructed and old passages 
cleared of debris. Under the hill will be shown everything pertaining 
to subterranean mining. 

A company has been formed called “La Societe de I’Exposition Min- 
iere Souterraine,” with a subscribed capital of 1,000,000 francs, which 
is in the nature of a concession. Individuals, companies, or foreign 
governments desiring space to exhibit machinery or methods will be 
charged per square foot a sum not yet decided upon. In return certifi¬ 
cates of stock will be issued to the exhibitors who will be reimbursed 
from the receipts. An admission fee will be charged by the con¬ 
cessionaires. 

ELECTRICITY. 

The power for the Paris Exposition will probably be supplied by 
burning the coal at the mines whence Paris now secures its supplies. 
The northern coal fields of France, Nord and Pas de Calais, are within 
150 kilometers of Paris, and come within the limits of electric trans¬ 
mission. No other international exposition nor any great undertaking 
has yet adopted such a plan, and it remains for the French Exposition 
of 1900 to exhibit to the world the most advanced application of the 
most modern method of creating and distributing power. This makes 
possible the idea of Mr. Picard, the eminent engineer, who is the 
French commissioner-general, to have the machines distributed in the 
various buildings and at work alongside of their manufactured products. 
“If,” says the commissioner-general, “the visitors are deprived of the 
imposing spectacle which was afforded by the immense accumulations 
in the old gallery of machines, if the grand effect of mass and mul¬ 
tiplicity due to such concentration is lost to them, they will no longer 
pass by engines and apparatus without suspecting their purpose or 
their manner of operation; the confusion of their minds will be dissi¬ 
pated; they will comprehend and will be instructed, which is the chief 
object of these periodical assizes of industry.” 

The exhibit of electricity in electrical appliances will be the most 
wonderful and complete the world has ever seen. Germany, in partic¬ 
ular, is making tremendous preparations in this department. It is 
proposed that the American exhibit shall be made by the electric 
companies of the United States consolidating or cooperating for this 
specific purpose, and steps have already been taken which I have rea¬ 
son to believe will bring about this most desirable result. 



PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


63 


TRANSPORTATION EXHIBITS. 

The transportation exhibits, and especially the application of elec- 
uricity to the means of transiiortation, will naturally occupy a very 
prominent place in the coming Exposition. The magnificent showing 
Imade in this department at Chicago in 1893, where transportation for 
Ithe first time was treated as a distinct subject and given its due dig- 
pity and importance in the general classification, had its effect on the 
|management of the Paris Exposition of 1900. The comparatively 
[small space allotted in the building devoted to civil engineering and 
I transportation is not a fair measure of the intentions of the manage- 
iinent or of the importance which this department has in their estima- 
itiou. The building itself will be supplemented by a liberal reservation 
of outdoor space in the Park of Vincennes for such of the exhibits as 
can not well be shown under roof. In that the Special Commissioner 
of the United States has strongly urged the advisability of having 
American cars and locomotives shown in actual operation at certain 
stated times, not only between the Exposition grounds proper and the 
Park of Vincennes but, if practicable, on the regular railway lines. 
This idea is in keeping with the general idea of the Exposition author¬ 
ities that there shall be as many live exhibits as possible. It has been 
made the subject of special interviews and correspondence, and has 
been favorably entertained by Commissioner-General Picard and 
Director-General Delaunay-Belleville. There will also be a building 
devoted to the merchant marine, where our methods of water transpor¬ 
tation may be shown. 

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 

An electric intramural railway is to be built on that part of the 
Exposition grounds situated on the left bank of the Seine. Other 
means of transportation within the grounds are contemplated, but the 
electric road is the only one definitely determined upon. It is estimated 
that the number of visitors at this Exposition will be more than double 
the attendance in 1889. This electric railway will take the form of an 
irregular quadrilateral, the sides of which will be the Eue Fabert 
along the Esplanade des Invalides, Quai d’Orsay (that section of the 
quay between the Esplanade des Invalides and the Avenue Sufiren), 
following the Avenue Suffren (at that part of the avenue comprised 
between the Quai d’Orsay and the Avenue de la Motte Piquet), and 
finally. Avenue de la Motte Piquet, between the Avenue de Suffren 
and Eue Fabert. The length of this road will be a trifle over 2^ miles. 
There are to be seven stations. The speed is not to exceed 10 miles 
per hour and the capacity will be 3,600 persons per station per hour 
going each way. 

The plans of the Metropolitan railway improvement have already 
been approved by the municipality of Paris, but a law of authorization 
must be passed by the Chamber of Deputies before work can be com- 



64 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


menced. However, no difficulty is expected in the Chamber, and work 
may begin about January 1, 1898, which would allow ample time to 
complete the connections before the oiiening of the Exposition in the 
spring of 1900. The object of this improvement, as well as the Ohemin 
de fer de Courcelles (which latter is now nearing completion), is to 
increase the interurban transportation facilities of Paris proper and 
to connect the lines running out of Paris so that trains can be run 
directly to the Exposition from the regular terminus of any railroad 
without change, landing passengers at the terminal station now being 
constructed on the banks of the Seine at the Esplanade des Invalides, 
directly opposite the Palace of Fine Arts, with which it is connected by 
the new bridge, Alexander III. At present the passengers from the 
country or cities outside of Paris must change at the Gare St. Lazare 
or the Gare du Nord to take the belt road. The completion of the 
Chemin de fer de Courcelles will increase and cheapen transportation . 
for all time, serving the same purpose as the improvements of the 
Illinois Central in Chicago in 1893. 

FORESTRY EXHIBITS. 

According to the census report of 1890, Bulletin 380, this country 
then had 67 manufacturing industries, each of which reported over 
$30,000,000 of annual products. Wood and iron tower far above all 
others as the mighty monarchs among our many giant industries—wood 
flrst with iron a stalwart second. The census figures give the following 
comparisons: 

WOOD. 


• 

Capital. 

Number 
of bands. 

Product. 

Sawmill products. . 

.$496, 000, 000 
120,000, 000 
62, 000, 000 
23, 000, 000 

286, 000 
87, 000 
46,000 
27, 000 

$403, 000, 000 
184, 000, 000 
34, 000, 000 

000 00(i 

Planing mill products. 

Raw forestry products. 

OooppiraP'e fitoc.k.. . . 



Total. 

701, 000, 000 

446, 000 

677, 000, OCO 



IRON. 


Iron and steel. 

$373, 000, 000 
24, 000, 000 
23, 000, 000 
22, 000, 000 

153,000 
17, 000 
12, 000 
19, 000 

$431, 000, 000 
34, 000, 000 
38, 000, 000 
38, 000, 000 

Nails, wire, etc. 

Iron pipe. 

Architectural work. 

Total. 

442, 000, 000 

201, 000 

541, 000,000 



The value of the lumber made and marketed every year in the United 
States is greater than the annual product of all the gold and silver 
mines of the world; it exceeds the combined output of the gold, silver, 
copper, iron, coal, and salt mines of the country, with petroleum thrown 
in; it leads either the cotton, wheat, or corn crops; it sells for more 
than the meat or clothing made in the Union; it brings more than the 
cloth woven at all our cotton and woolen factories; beats the fiour 






























PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


65 


mills; is more than the capital of all our natioual banks, and is almost 
equal to the agricultural products of the New England, Middle, and 
Southern Atlantic States from Maine to Florida. 

Already this country’s wonderful wealth of wood has attracted the 
earnest attention of the civilized world. Our forests are the finest on 
the globe, unequaled for quantity, quality, and variety. Michigan alone, 
according to Dr. Beal, the veteran professor of forestry and botany at 
the Michigan Agricultural College, shows 80 varieties of native timber 
woods and 150 shrubs. He also names 292 species of wood east of the 
Mississippi and 153 on the Pacific Coast, while all Europe has only 85 and 
Great Britain less than a dozen. Is it any wonder that a thousand ships 
load lumber every winter at the Mexican Gulf and three other South¬ 
ern ports for Europe and Central and South America, while the Pacific 
Coast mills are busy supplying China, Japan, Australia, and Africa^ 
Lumber is our great product. Its manufacture is not only our most 
gigantic industry, but it is growing in volume each year and will con¬ 
tinue to grow. Government reports show that 25 per cent of the vast 
area of this country is yet covered with the most valuable forests known 
to man. Already the lumbermen of the lake region are receiving many 
European orders for white pine, oak, ash, elm, birch, cedar, and other 
varieties of commercial woods. An industry so vast in volume and so 
promising for the future strongly appeals to the Government for sub¬ 
stantial aitl^and encouragement in making a complete and comprehen¬ 
sive exhibit of our many rare, usefql, and ornamental woods at the 
Paris Exposition. Eich returns would attend such an exhibition of our 
wonderful forestry resources. Carefully selected auxiliary committees 
should be appointed at Chicago, New Orleans, and Seattle to collect 
specimens in paniiels and veneers of the woods of each section of the 
country for a first-class commercial exhibit. Let tree planting and tree 
culture be shown by reports and views, while finished wood products 
and wood-working machinery would naturally find their places in other 
departments. Such an exhibit would stimulate great interest in Europe, 
where most of the varieties would be new to the residents of that con¬ 
tinent. Our lumbermen are noted for liberality and enterprise. They 
are already working actively to open fresh markets in all quarters of 
the globe for their varied products, and would heartily embrace this 
great opportunity to extend their trade and cooperate to make the pro¬ 
posed exhibit a success in every way. The Government would be called 
upon only for the supervisory work and expenses. A very satisfactory 
display of our numerous woods in panels and sawed veneers could be 
made for a small expense, which would be instructive, compact, and 
ornate, and a credit and benefit to this richly timbered country. 

The days of plain pine and paint for interior finish have past, and now 
our almost endless species of hard woods, highly finished in natural 
shades, rich and beautiful in their great variety of grain and color, are 
demanded for the inside work in about all modern residences, office 

IS. Doc. 1-5 



66 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


blocks, and public buildings. With this fresh and rapidly increasing 
demand for the hard or broad-leaf woods, about every tree growing in 
American forests has a commercial value and a ready sale. The addi¬ 
tion of so many handsome hard woods to the stocks of our lumbermen 
has greatly increased the opportunities for making an exhibit of far 
greater value and beauty than would have been possible ten years ago. 
This country has the material for a finer forestry exhibit than any other 
nation can install at Paris, and it should not neglect so grand a chance 
to promote her greatest manufacturing industry. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Since the publication of the classification it has been decided that 
Group I (education) and Group III (instruments and general processes 
of letters, sciences and arts) will be combined. Also on the Esplanade 
des Invalides Groups XII (decorations) and XV (various industries) will 
be installed. This has been done in order to attain the most interesting 
decorative efiects, and all the foreign sections in these groups (XII and 
XV) will be united in a single installation. It is possible, besides, to 
provide those nations who absolutely require an extension of space 
an outdoor annex adjoining their installations in the manufacturers’ 
building. The manufacturers’ building is the finest, and will have the 
most elaborate decoration. It is in this building where the United 
States will have the greatest prominence and where its installation 
will attract the most attention. 

In the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago textile fabrics were 
exhibited in rows of high black show cases, and the visitor will remem¬ 
ber the deserted aisles surrounding them. In Paris in 1900 the machine 
making the fabric will be shown working alongside its manufactured 
product. It will be seen by the general plan that textile fabrics will 
not be exhibited in the manufacturers’ building, but have a location by 
themselves and be treated as a distinct subject. 

Chemical industries, also, will have a separate installation. 

[Letter in relation to exhibits at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition for Paris Exposition of 1900.] 

Chicago, September 16,1897. 

Hon. Moses P. Handy, 

Special United States Commissioner, 

Paris Exposition Universal 1900, Paris, France. 

Dear Sir : Agreeable to your action of August 18, wherein you depu¬ 
tized the undersigned to make a survey of the Tennessee Centennial 
and International Exposition with a view of ascertaining to what 
extent exhibitors there might be induced to exhibit at Paris, the amount 
of space which would likely be required of such intending exhibitors, 

I beg in accordance with this deputization and request to submit the 
following: 

In the early stages of the Tennessee Centennial the management 
adopted the policy of requesting collections of exhibits of the resources 


t^ARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


67 

of the South, aiul offering free transportation to bring everything to 
Nashville, piovided it became the property of the Tennessee Centen¬ 
nial, as trustee for the United States Government, to exhibit at the 
Paris Exposition hi 1900. Maj. E. C. Lewis, director-general of the 
exposition, deserves great credit for the forethought and wisdom of 
this plan. I find that a great many exhibits are already on hand under 
this arrangement, being almost exclusively, however, in the miiierals 
and forestry departments. The collections iu these departments in 
economic woods and geology are perhaps the finest exhibition of the 
resources of the South in these two lines which has ever appeared at 
any exposition. 

It is, perhaps, not desirable at this time to go into details on these 
exhibits. Sufficient to say that I am advised by the director general 
that at least one-half of the exhibits in the minerals and forestry 
building, occupying floor space for 40,000 square feet, are available and 
ready for exhibition at Paris. This would require 20,000 square feet, 
18,000 feet being for indigenous woods, for lumber, etc., and an 
approximate of 2,000 square feet for minerals. 

There are also certain valuable agricultural exhibits belonging to the 
Tennessee Centennial Company, as trustee for the Government, to 
exhibit at Paris, which I am at this time unable to list in this report. 

In the general line of exhibitors, that is, machinery, manufactures, 
etc., I find the interest which is manifested in the Paris Exposition sur¬ 
prising to a degree. I had the honor of calling upon and interviewing a 
large number—nearly all, in fact—of the prominent exhibitors at the 
exposition. 

The space used by these exhibitors at Nashville ranges from 120 
square feet to 1,500 square feet, and will aggregate 30,000 square feet. 
A number of the firms mentioned have exceptionally fine and desirable 
exhibits. The most economic devices pertaining to the great cotton 
industry, including a new system of baling cotton, the great staple of 
all the semitropical countries, are exhibited. 

I also found a number of amusement concessionaires anxious to begin 
negotiations for concessions and space, among them being the Cyclo- 
rama of the Battle of Gettysburg; Old Southern Plantation, showing 
negro life during slavery days, and a number of others. 

Among the people of Nashville the sentiment is all in favor of the 
Exposition. I find that where the people have had the advantages of 
a great exposition at their door the desire to visit Paris in 1900 is almost 
unanimous. This is due, no doubt, to the educational effects of these 
expositions and the pride the people have in them, as well as their 
desire to make comparisons. 

I have the honor to be, yours, very truly, 

lioEERT J. Thompson. 


68 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


Appendix I. 

WHAT THE UNITED STATES HAS TO GAIN BY MAKING A GOOD 
EXHIBIT AT THE EXPOSITION OF 1900 . 

The ratio of American exj)orts to the importations of foreign coun¬ 
tries is less than the American resources to tlie world’s resources. 
The 375,000,000 people in Europe and the unnumbered millions in the 
Eastern world can not nearly iiroduce the common i^roducts of con¬ 
sumption in the required quantity, and whde America’s foreign trade 
in those products has grown within the last few years to enormous 
proportions, yet the amount in proportion to her wealth of supply 
could and should be greatly increased. Besides, because of America’s 
advancement, Europe, to say nothing of other countries, is a rich field 
for many goods which are here in America most extensively used and 
considered necessities, but which are very little used in Europe, and in 
some cases not used at all farther East, in the sale of which those 
countries offer the greatest opportunities to America to swell her foreign 
trade. I refer in particular to— 

(7) Food products .—With respect to American corn, which as a food 
product is said to possess the nutrient qualities of meat and eggs, and 
which is one of the principal foods of the West, there is the greatest 
ignorance in all other uountries, and the field which there exists for its 
sale is almost boundless. It is being burned, in many cases, for fuel in 
the West when it might feed the countless hungry of Europe cheaper 
than any other product, if ouly its actual value as a food were known. 

{2) Electric raihcays .—Robert P. Porter, in The Electrical Engineer 
of November 26, 1897, says that in all Europe there are only about 
2,000 miles of electric railway, while in the United States there are 
about 14,000 miles, and that with a population of 300,000,000 Europe 
will not be content with half the miles of street railways which are in 
the United States to serve a population of 72,000,000. American 
supply companies have recently received the contracts for the English 
underground electric railway now being constructed, and “in Dublin, 
Cork, Bristol, Coventry, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Brussels, Aix La 
Chapelle, Dresden, Vienna, and as far southeast as Budapest, American 
electrical engineering has been practically adopted for the street-car 
systems. In fact, wherever a community is breaking away from omni¬ 
buses, or those nightmares of street transportation, the hideous steam 
tram cars, there is easily discerned the ingenious hand of American 
enterprise. With such experience in the equipment of electrical rail¬ 
ways the American manufacturers have every advantage over the 
European manufacturers with their limited experience and output. 

“In addition to the transportation interests there are three other 
distinct lines of electrical industry in which we may safely be said 
to lead if the expert statistics count for anything. First, mining api)li- 
ances, which include pumps, locomotives, hoists, blowers, and kindred 



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PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


69 


devices; second, appliances for tlie transmission of power, including 
tlie alternating-current system, dynamos, transformers for producing 
liigli or low voltage, and other power machinery, and, third, telephone, 
counting, and electric-light appliances. The field for this sort of enter¬ 
prise is practically unlimited.” 

{3) Railway equipment supplies .—The limitations of the transporta¬ 
tion services in Europe are well known. Those in use are most inferior 
to those in America. Every American abroad has wished more than 
once for an American vestibuled train, with its perfect appointments and 
service. When one beholds the vast empires of Eussia, China, and the 
Orient, and the continents of Asia and Africa, that must be spanned 
and eventually crisscrossed with railways, the enormity of the future 
trade in railway supplies is seen. “The American locomotives have 
found their way into difterent countries and are now at work proving 
themselves,” says an exjiert in a press article of October, 1897. 
“ There is yet to be a case where American and foreign engines have 
been tried in competition in any country of South America, Aft'ica, and 
the Orient in which the American engine has not given the better 
satisfaction.” April 1 of this year forty of them were sent to Eussia to 
assist in the transportation of visitors to the coronation ceremonies. 
A London j)aper in October, 1897, says: 

Withiu the last few weeks an American steel company has contracted to deliver 
8,000 tons of steel rails in Calcutta for the East India Railway at £1 less than the 
lowest British tender. The same company has also recently secured other large 
orders for the British possessions, including 1,500 tons of rails for South Africa, 3,000 
tons for the intercolonial railway at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and 1,000 tons for Charles¬ 
town and Prince Edward Island. 

The London Chronicle recently said: 

It is currently rumored that the London and Northwestern Railway Company is 
in present treaty (with America) for the delivery of 100,000 tons of steel rails, and, 
with the low prices and cheap rates prevailing, the thing is only too credible. 

(4) Maeliinery .—American machinery of all kinds, so say the recent 
consular reports, excels all other. For simplicity, strength, lightness, 
rapidity in operation, and cheapness it has no equal. iSo superior 
and desirable is it that European machinery manufacturers are resort¬ 
ing to reproduction to prevent Americans from encroaching upon their 
lirovince in this line—theirs by right of proscription for centuries. 

(.5) Tools, etc .—From the London Chronicle: 

America’s success against the English engineers has been astounding. If, as they 
aver, the hours are to be reduced to forty-eight in this country, with a similar 
curtailment of machine-tool production, British competition will be practically 
impossible. 

Within the last two years Germany has imported $15,000,000 worth 
of American tools, which also shows the quality and market for this 
American product. 

{6) Bicycles .—In the manufacture of bicycles America also leads, both 
in priority and quality of manufacture. The craze has not nearly 


70 


PARIS EXPOSITION OP 1900. 


reached the height in Europe that it has in America, but it is growing, 
and there is even now a vast demand there to be satisfied. European 
conservatism in the adopting of anything new has given America the 
advantage in this line. As has been said of machinery, the American 
bicycle is simpler, stronger, lighter, and easier to propel than the Euro¬ 
pean manufacture. 

(7) Silk mdusfry .—“I am told,” says ex-Oonsul-General Morss, “by 
one of the largest importers of Lyons (France) silks, who is also largely 
interested in the domestic silk trade, that the manufactnrers in the 
United States can compete with Lyons in all grades of goods where 
the labor is not the most important element of value, as in goods woven 
on power looms. There is no question that, in medium-priced goods, 
the manufacturers of the United States are surely and rapidly taking 
the trade that formerly belonged to Lyons.” Every other nation 
except France has long been passed in the manufacture of silks, and 
there is now a chance to defeat the French on their own ground. 

(8) Furniture .—A committee representing the furniture manufactnr¬ 
ers went abroad in 1895 to investigate the possibilities of developing 
American furniture trade abroad and arrived at the following conclu¬ 
sions : 

A trade can be secured for bigb-class, correctly designed American frame parlor 
suits and art chairs as made here at present. In all kinds of case work the American 
manufacturer can, in the majority of lines, manufacture English patterns and com¬ 
pete favorably with the manufacturer there, with a probability that in time many 
American ideas of merit can be gradually introduced to our profit. * * * a. 

market certainly exists in England and other countries available only through Lon¬ 
don for such grades of American furniture, and that market is of sufficient volume 
and importance to justify the enterprising manufacturer in making an efibrt to secure 
it; and that, having once secured this in addition to his American trade, he will be 
found to possess a more valuable good will and better profit-earning business than 
is possible in America exclusively under the conditions that obtain in our country 
now. In addition to the trade in Holland, Germany, and Belgium, equally available 
from London, there are also better opportunities for reaching South America and 
Australia than at New York, whereas Africa, now rapidly becoming one of the great 
markets of the world, looks to London for its supplies in our line. These markets 
will, we believe, freely accept American goods as made at present, but under exist¬ 
ing conditions of commerce it is. absolutely necessary to reach them through a Lon¬ 
don house if a fair share of this already immense and rapidly growing trade is to be 
brought to America, as it certainly should be. 

TLe exclusive exj)erience in the manufacture of the above articles and 
the size of American manufacturing plants—the quantity and quality of 
their output—leave no doubt that America could, with due diligence, 
increase her foreign trade by the sale of these goods alone to the extent 
of many millions of dollars annually. Hundreds of American merchants 
and manufacturers have grown rich from the consumption of these goods 
by America’s 75,000,000 people. All the European and South American 
people and most of the Eastern nations have needs, tastes, likes, and 
dislikes similar to the American. Surely, then, it would be easier to 
develop the sale of these goods among so many people—there being at 
least 500,000,000—than to materially increase it among so few at home. 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


71 


Tlie depressed condition of affairs in America during the last few years 
drove many Americans abroad to seek a market for their goods, and 
the result of their efforts has, most astonishingly, revealed previously 
unthought-of possibilities in the way of developing foreign trade. The 
question which has always confronted the American manufacturer, and 
does now embarrass him, when considering the developing of a foreign 
trade, is. What is the best means to perfectly and satisfactorily show 
goods to the foreign consumer.-since goods must be seen before they 
will be purchased, and in turn the necessary prerequisites to a sale 
is that their quality must be demonstrated before the eyes of the 
purchaser. 

There is a consensus of opinion among our consuls and experts that 
the best methods to employ are to establish warehouses in the prin¬ 
cipal cities of a country and to send out native commercial travelers 
to show samples and solicit orders from door to door. 

But the time, money, and trouble necessary to thus place American 
goods on the doorstep of every foreign home, so that the occupant, 
with his own eyes, may fully inspect them, are too great for the Ameri¬ 
can manufacturer. He thinks the competition is too severe and the 
prejudice against American goods too strong. His ofttimes limited 
experience -in handling foreign trade and his meager knowledge of the 
results to be gained therefrom will not permit him to make the expendi¬ 
ture such elforts to sell demand. 

But the goods must be shown if a sale is made. The manufacturer 
must be encouraged and some other means of demonstration adopted. 
The Paris Exposition in 1900 offers to the United States an opportunity 
to give her merchants encouragement by furnishing to America, and 
all other nations as well, a warehouse, an exhibition hall, in which to 
display the products of all for an inspection and a comparisoh by the 
world. Although American goods are thus displayed only in Paris, 
and not in Brussels, Vienna, or Rome, the advantage to accrue to the 
United States and her individual exhibitors in the countries of which 
these cities are the capitals, and in all other countries, will be just as 
great. Each country will send its quota of representatives and visitors. 
They will be experts or purchasers, at least they will represent the 
most intelligent class of the country from which they come, and if they 
do not buy will carry home and di-sseminate the information gained at 
the Exposition. The quality, if superior, of a country’s products, is 
thus given the greatest publicity among all peoples in the shortest 
space of time and at the least possible expense. 

It is estimated that there will be two million foreigners at the coming 
Exposition, there having been over a million at the Exposition of 1889, 
besides the millions of French people. What inffnence in the turning 
of trade can such an army of intelligent men exert ? As a colossal 
mercantile house, the United States conld receive no greater tinancial or 
other benefit than to have this army of travelers go forth into every 
laud and in the language of that laud praise American goods. 


72 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


The United States is now high among the nations in the size of its 
exports. Would not an accurate representative display of American 
goods and skill arrayed in the elaborate and fanciful designs of Amer¬ 
ica’s inimitable artists, and emblazoned with the all-brilliant hues of 
earth and sky, so sufficiently impress these truth seekers of the 
nations with the true quality of American goods as to make their 
words u])on their home returning turn the balance of their country’s 
foreign trade to our ports'? 

Every country being there on exhibition, each, including America, 
will best find the natural market for its resources. 

The American display at Paris in 1878 and 1889 really simply 
revealed to the world the genius, skill, and advancement of America, 
and the world was amazed. It was left to the World’s Columbian 
Exposition actually to convince the world that America is a “ giant 
capable of prodigies” aiid an actual factor in the world’s field of 
trade—there to supply in any (quantity the best that skill, ingenuity, 
and enterprise can produce. 

The many requests by American merchants and manufacturers for 
the largest amount of space that might be consistent with the impor¬ 
tance of their output, most clearly illustrate the possibilities which 
they believe the coming Exposition offers for financial aggrandize¬ 
ment. More American firms have been enabled to form connections 
and extend their trade abroad since 1893 than ever before, and to the 
World’s Columbian Exposition might easily be traced the beginning of 
the negotiations which have led to the recent closing of so many orders 
for American iron, electrical and railway equipment supplies, aud other 
goods. 

In regard to the French mind in particular, as to its favorable dis¬ 
position toward the United States in the commercial sense, I quote 
Mr. S. E. Morss in his 1896 consular report: 

The French people are essentially conservative, and not quick to adopt novelties, 
especially those of foreign origin. But they are waking up to an appreciation of 
American skill, ingenuity, aud enterprise, especially since the World’s Columbian 
Exposition at Chicago, and it is believed that the French mind was never so favora 
hly disposed toward the United States, in a commercial sense, as it is at present. 
The industrial progress and mechanical achievements of the Yankees have become 
favorite themes of the French press, and of public speakers and writers, and when 
the next World’s Exposition is held at Paris in 1900, that event will witness a great 
triumph for American enterprise. The opportunities seem now especially favorable 
for pushing American hardware, tools, machinery, and mechanical devices of vari¬ 
ous kinds, electric appliances, labor-saving contrivances, furniture, mauufactui’es 
of wood, hoots and shoes, and perhaps other articles. Among the industries to 
which especial attention is at present being devmted, the cycle trade may he men¬ 
tioned as occupying the first rank. Next in importance, perhaps, would come street¬ 
car traction. And the next questions in order are those in photography in colors, 
electricity, hoot and shoe making machinery and acetylene gas. 

Through the 1900 Expositiou will the much desired and talked of 
South American trade best be fostered. These neighbors and friends are 
brotherly and sisterly disposed to trade with the United States. They 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


73 


liave long since been told of the superiority of American goods, but 
never having seen them, as they wish, they each year, through force of 
habit, continue to go to Europe to buy. The coming Ex[)Osition will 
enable America to place her goods side by side with those of European 
manufacture for comparison. These republics will in 1900 be in Paris 
en masse to buy. Warehouses (})laces of exhibition) will not thus have 
to be so extensively established in the different countries, and the 
enormous expense on the American manufacturer of their maintenance 
will be avoided. The producer and consumer will be brought together, 
and business ties will be formed which will not be broken. 

The benefits to be derived by America’s exhibiting at Paris are many 
times greater than those which induced Germany, France, England, 
and other countries to spend so much money on their exhibits at the 
World’s Columbian Exposition. Here was the trade of only 75,000,000 
people to secure, there being not a large number of foreigners present, 
while at Paris there will be the representatives of the trade of more 
than half a billion people. And no nation had reason to regret exhibit¬ 
ing at Chicago. All learned and took away methods, models, and a 
knowledge of materials and the wants of other nations. Germany has 
since attached a commercial agent to the German consulate at Chicago, 
of whom it is said that, during the first year of his labors, he estab¬ 
lished relations with more than 800 American firms and companies. 
The Government has established similar agents with like results in 
South America, Australia, China, and Japan, 

It is unquestionably the consideration of the increased field offered 
in Europe for extension of trade, through the Paris Exposition, that 
leads to the unprecedented efforts of all the foreign governments with 
regard to the Exposition. The elaborate preparations of the European 
monarchical countries for the Exposition might be construed as a sign 
that they hope through their display at the Exposition to control the 
world’s commerce. In fact, their united efforts in i^reparing for 1900 
might be taken as the accomplishing of a scheme to corner the market, 
and that America is the one to be squeezed. “ Count Golucliowski, the 
Austro-Hungarian minister for foreign affairs, in his annual address on 
the 20th instant to the Austrian and Hungarian delegations, vigorously 
defended European concert” (so states the press report of FTovember 
20), and in concluding his remarks the count is said to have made an 
urgent ai)peal to all Europe to “take advantage of the present era of 
peace and Join closely for the vigorous defense of conditions which are 
common to their existence as against the crushing competition of trans¬ 
atlantic nations.” 

The cause of America, however, has been greatly assisted by the 
courtesy of the French officials, brothers in the cause of republican 
government, in their granting America equal rights with respect to 
space at the Exposition. 

America has enjoyed the most marvelous advancement within the 
last half century ever achieved by a people in a similar period, and 
S. Hoc. 4-0 


74 


PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1900. 


might not 1900 be observed as the most fitting time to assert to the 
world this fact'? 

As it was the great desire of France at previous expositions that 
America should take part, so as to depict the virtues of free institutions 
and self-government, France is now the more anxious that America 
shall, with herself and the republics of South America, stand out in 
emblazoned grandeur at the Exposition of 1900, again to eclipse the 
exhibits of the monarchical sages and thereby counteract the effect of 
the seeming importance and greatness of inonarchical government. 

International expositions bring men and nations nearer together, and 
it is a fact that to day they think nearer alike "nd are nearer alike than 
ever before, much as a result of such expositions. Each jieople shows 
its best and ever^^ other admires and learns. The best of one becomes 
the ideal and goal of another. By the interchange of sympathies and 
quickening of ideas the cause of the brotherhood of man is given an 
impetus, and the galaxy of nations are assisted upward in their grand 
sweep toward the highest conception of perfection. 


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